Signs Reassure Us That All’s Well--and Help Us Get There

What good is a road without some signs?

Well, practically worthless.

Most of us can remember a time traveling for miles down some road at night we weren’t too sure about to begin with, wondering, Where’s the sign? while scanning the shoulders for any reflective glint.

For us hurried Southern Californians, for whom a trip down the highway is about as regular as sunrise, road signs are what a compass was to Lewis and Clark.

They are reassuring landmarks that we’re pointed in the right direction.

And in Southern California, those green and white rectangles stenciled with everything from “Los Angeles 54 Miles” to “Wendy Road . . . Exit Only” have become about as important as the air we breathe.

So, understandably, when they are absent or something’s wrong with them, we get a little hot under the collar, because getting lost and having to ask directions can be a humiliating experience.

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Dear Street Smart:

Why is the way from the Ventura Freeway to Pacific Coast Highway in Oxnard so poorly signed?

Going south on Oxnard Boulevard, there is an oblique left turn that is counterintuitive and not signed at all at Wooley Road. Then, when the boulevard turns into the Ventura Freeway at Rose Avenue, the signs are also lacking.

Please get Caltrans to put up signs at these two intersections. Both tourists and longtime-but-infrequent users of this connection will be grateful.

Dora Crouch, Santa Paula

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Dear Reader:

If Street Smart had the power to make Caltrans do something, then I probably would be doing something else, like telling my landed gentry to go out and harvest my fields and scrub the walls of my castle.

But some queries were made, and your question, it seems, made that bureaucratic giant known as Caltrans think.

According to state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Pat Reid, there are plenty of signs along Oxnard Boulevard that tell drivers that the road is also Pacific Coast Highway while going through Oxnard.

At the intersection of Wooley and Saviers roads and Oxnard Boulevard, a.k.a. PCH, Reid said, there are signs on every approach that indicate Oxnard Boulevard makes a 45-degree turn and instruct drivers which lanes to use.

Beyond that intersection, where southbound Oxnard Boulevard turns into PCH, there is only one sign. Caltrans will erect another sign on that stretch.

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Dear Street Smart:

My question has to do with highway signs and when they are cleaned.

Specifically, there is a sign on Interstate 5 just before the exit to McBean Parkway that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in years. You can’t even read it anymore, and I’d like to know what kind of schedule Caltrans has for cleaning signs.

Rick Howell, Oak View

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Dear Reader:

Have you ever seen an orange-clad crew of Caltrans employees on the side of the road toting buckets and mops? I haven’t, and initially thought cleaning road signs would fall on the shoulders of the rainy season.

But I was wrong.

Caltrans does clean signs, “as time permits,” which translates into not very often.

According to Reid, Caltrans maintenance crews clean freeway signs, both overhead and those off the shoulder, if they have the time.

Higher priorities and limited resources, Reid said, often dictate how often they are cleaned.

Priorities for these crews center on replacing signs that have been knocked down or removed.

However, Caltrans crews do make a priority of cleaning signs that are unreadable and a safety hazard.