City Smart / How to thrive in the urban environment of Southern California : Company Works the Sticker Shift : Zumar Gets Into High Gear to Make New Speed Limit Signs

Before California motorists can begin driving 65 mph legally, workers at a Los Angeles factory have had to shift into warp speed themselves.

Somebody had to fill the rush order for thousands of new speed limit signs. And the job fell to Zumar Industries in the City of Commerce.

The firm hurriedly manufactured 2,600 stickers with the number 6, which will be affixed beginning Sunday, weather permitting, over the first 5 on the 55 mph signs posted during the 1973 Arab oil embargo.

Zumar was called because the firm is in the business of churning out traffic signs for Caltrans and dozens of cities and other states.

Hanging up in the shop are signs of every shape and size--some not so obvious, like one produced for the city of Corona that pictures a police officer with his foot on a car’s rear bumper. A city official said the sign would remind motorists to slow down or be ticketed.

The company also made a sign that reads “Chickens and Children Playing” for a farmer who lived on an accident-prone corner.

“We just make them,” said company President Norm Tardif. “We don’t put them up. Hey, if you’re mad about a stop sign someplace, don’t blame me.”

“You use our product every day and don’t even know it,” he added.

Sunday morning, a dozen Caltrans crews will apply the “sticky sixes” to speed limit signs on 500 miles of freeways in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

“It’s about time,” said Craig Sherson, whose cars bear the license plates “HATE 55” and “55 U WISH.”

Once the signs are installed, motorists can start driving at the higher speed on certain parts of Southern California’s sprawling freeway system.

Each sticker takes a few minutes to apply, said Ron Thrash, Caltrans superintendent of special crews. Crews hope to complete the task in one day, unless it rains. The stickers won’t take in the rain.

Speeds will jump to 65 mph on 2,800 miles of California freeways but remain at 55 on some busy stretches of Los Angeles freeways. Caltrans has also ordered new signs to remind truckers that 55 remains the “maximum truck speed.”

Some roads, such as the Pasadena Freeway, have engineering features that preclude a higher speed limit, while others require additional evaluation before a final decision can be made, Caltrans officials said.

Still under study are the Santa Ana Freeway between the Long Beach Freeway and Orange County line, the 91 Freeway between the Harbor Freeway and the Orange County line, the Hollywood Freeway between Vermont Avenue and Interstate 5, the Ventura Freeway between the Hollywood Freeway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, and the San Diego Freeway from Sunset Boulevard to the Orange County line. Studies are expected to be complete in March.

Zumar also made 350 new 70 mph speed limit decals. They are expected to be posted after New Year’s Day on 1,400 miles of rural freeways now designated as 65 mph in desert regions, over the Grapevine and across the Central Valley.

Zumar, named after the company’s late founder, has been making traffic signs almost as long as Los Angeles has had freeways.

It took the company’s 38 workers about a week to turn out the new speed limit stickers. The 20-inch-high stickers cost Caltrans $8.08 each. Total cost to Caltrans for all of the new signs is about $61,000.

The new speed limit signs are made from reflecting vinyl sheeting. The number is printed by a silk-screen process, the same kind used to print designs on T-shirts.

All signs are made with a graffiti-resistant ink.

“To get these on straight, it’s hard,” Tardif said. “You know the little sticker you put on your license plate? It’s a very similar material. And that’s just a little bitty thing.”

“So if you see a few that aren’t perfect, let it go.”

How do the Zumar workers feel about their little role in California motoring history?

“Everybody has felt really important,” said office manager Jennifer Rottiers.