Airport sign cost jumps past $2 million

The price tag to make sure people get to the right terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has soared to $2.2 million, more than twice the original estimate.

It also looks like efforts to keep the Humphrey and Lindbergh names on the costly new signs have failed. Instead, the signs will direct people to the more generic Terminal 1 [Lindbergh] and Terminal 2 [Humphrey].

The controversial changes aimed at streamlining airport traffic are headed to a vote by a Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) committee on Wednesday.

Faced with complaints that an estimated 20,000 people show up at the wrong terminal each year, MAC has been considering proposals to change the terminal names on the signs and list the airlines that fly out of each terminal.

The cost went up, according to MAC, after studies of the current signs showed that some of the supports are not big or strong enough to hold the new, larger signs. In addition, five new signs are needed.

The initial cost estimate of $1 million provoked complaints and a surge of advice from do-it-yourselfers who offered to do the job for less. "Give me a bucket of white paint and a brush!" wrote one StarTribune.com reader. "I'll make the new signs and I'll only charge $500k!"

MAC spokesman Patrick Hogan chalks the controversy up to sticker shock. "We drive by them every day; we just don't realize how much they cost," he said about highway signs.

When the revised proposal goes before the committee, Hogan predicted that the new cost estimate will be a consideration in how the vote goes. "But in the big scheme of things, we just spent $3 billion to improve the airport, and if there are still people having trouble getting to the right terminal, that's a small price to pay."

Signs don't come cheap

The reality is that big freeway signs are big-ticket items. A sign with one support post can cost $30,000, while a full over-the-roadway structure with multiple signs might cost $100,000, said Cassandra Isackson, assistant state traffic engineer. Some of the new signs will go on existing supports, but many new supports will need to be built.

The main factor in the construction cost is wind, said Isackson. Some of the signs will be as large as 10 feet by 16 feet, she said, adding that anyone who has tried to carry a sheet of plywood in anything more than a light breeze understands the forces at work.

The condition of the current support structures was not known when the original estimate was made, MAC said.

Several of the supports will need to be modified or replaced because of the weight and wind loads of the new signs. The number of cantilever structures -- signs that stand on one support and extend over one side of the highway -- has doubled from five to 10. One sign bridge -- these have supports on both sides of the highway -- is in poor condition and needs to be replaced. In addition, three other structures need "significant structural modification."

In its agenda item detailing the change, MAC said the Minnesota Department of Transportation is looking at whether any of its sign maintenance funds could be used.

As for what the signs will say, the MAC is back to its original proposal: The terminals still would be officially named after Charles Lindbergh and Hubert Humphrey, but their names would vanish from the highway signs.

In June, a MAC committee asked that staff consider keeping those names on the highway signs. But Hogan said the MAC staff, after working with MnDOT officials, said they don't want to put any more letters on the signs than they have to.

"We're going to move forward and see where the vote goes," he said about Wednesday's meeting. If the Finance, Development and Environment Committee approves the proposal, it will go before the full commission on July 20.

Referring to the new designations of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, he said: "In terms of helping people get to the right terminal, we think this is the way to go."

Staff writer Jim Foti contributed to this report. Suzanne Ziegler • 612-673-1707