The signs around Canmore welcoming people to the community are about to get a complete facelift.
The two signs on the Trans-Canada Highway, eastbound and westbound, will soon be replaced with newly designed signage, along with an additional third sign at the Benchlands overpass.
Ande Esarte, acting manager of engineering for the Town of Canmore, said along with the highway signs, three will be put on Bow Valley Trail as secondary gateway signs and three in the town centre. He said the project, which is in the first phase, will enhance the community’s sense of place and help direct people visiting Canmore.
“It is twofold for me,” Esarte said. “Number one, it enhances our sense of place and gives us a sense of community pride. The community signs that we see today were put up for the ’88 Olympics and just like architecture from the ’80s, that esthetic is kind of getting a little bit tired.
“Possibly the more important objective is landmarks are a way of people finding their way through the landscape and if we can provide some esthetic and captivate landmarks throughout the community to draw people in, that is a good thing.”
He said the signs on the highway, and the one on Bow Valley Trail, are in poor condition and in need of replacement. The additional signs approved by council for this year’s project will also fit into the original budget of $275,000.
“We did some budgetary cost estimates and we contacted sign suppliers … it looked like we could accomplish more within the approved budget and that is the intent, to stretch that budget to do the best we possibly can with this project,” Esarte said.
The municipality, with the help of consultants, has been undergoing a design process for the new signs over the past year. Along with a public open house, administration worked with stakeholders in the community, presented to council during a committee-of-the-whole meeting and did an online survey.
“Through the engagement with the esthetic, we wanted to be consistent with the feedback we received,” he said. “We wanted to give a nod to our mining heritage with some of the really heavy metal elements and it was the same thing with the heavy timbers as a nod to mountain architecture. We are also tying in a lot of stone and shrub beds to connect with our mountain environment.
“All of the materials are going to be natural materials to be consistent with the authentic or genuine Rocky Mountain lifestyle we associate ourselves with.”
For 2015-17 there is $400,000 per year – or $1.2 million in total – to continue replacing signage with the new design. Esarte said 300 signs are identified in Canmore as possibly needing replacement and redesign by the consultant Axia Creative, but the budget won’t be able to cover the entire scope.
“I don’t expect that we would be able to do that in its entirety within the forecast budget,” he said. “We are going to address the key issues that need to be addressed and for supplementary signage, or the less critical signage, a lot of it will be addressed within other projects. For example, if there was a facility redevelopment … they could put up a new sign in conjunction with that project.”
The next phase in 2015 will be to begin to address vehicular signage (an estimated 60 signs) to specifically point people towards the town centre and other key destinations like Elevation Place and the Nordic Centre. It will also include temporary event signage. For 2016, the scope includes approximately 40 vehicular guide signs in outlying areas and 10 identity signs for parks and facilities. For 2017, it includes approximately 60 pedestrian signs with a focus on the town centre as a primary destination.
The tender for phase one closes Thursday (Aug. 16) at 2 p.m.
