New Colton crosswalk signs could appear by October

Colton’s school crosswalk signs may get a makeover by October after the Department of Transportation said they were no longer up to state standards.

Colton was awarded $7,500 a month ago from the state DOT to buy equipment for new, up-to-code signs, and then to maintain them once they are installed.

Approximately $1,500 is still needed to install the signs, and at their meeting Aug. 3, Colton city council members decided to ask the school to pay for the installation.

“I feel like we’ve done our part,” said Mayor Jerry Weber at the meeting.

The new signs will be posted at each end of town, with two more posted at the intersection of 195 and Steptoe Street. For the signs in town, there will be two signs on each side of the highway--a “highly visible” yellow sign along with a matching speed limit sign with a flashing yellow light.

The DOT found out about the outdated crosswalk signs when the Colton school turned in a regular annual report that happened to mention the location of its crosswalk signs, Weber said.

The DOT noticed that the signs weren’t up to code and asked the city if they would like to apply for funding. The city applied for the grant and received it, but the $1,500 is still required- for installation.

The signs and equipment have already been ordered, said Harold White, maintenance and traffic engineer in the DOT’s eastern region office. They should arrive within two months, he said, but he didn’t expect them to be up by the start of school.

“We’d love to get in there before school starts, but the timing just isn’t going to work out,” White said.

White added the funding for the crosswalk signs derived from funding leftover from a failed attempt to repave portions of 195 from the Idaho border up to Colton.