Highway Signs Changing Throughout State

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has been replacing its old highway signs with new ones that have a new font. The new font is called Clearview and according to research done by Penn State University, is 10-18% more legible than the traditional font, Highway Gothic. The new font uses thinner lines and more open space on the inside of some of the letters to help motorists better distinguish between different letters. Approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2004 the font is now being adopted by highway departments across the United States and Canada. Rich Kirkpatrick, spokesman for the PennDot Harrisburg office says that he expects all of the signs with the old font to be replaced within ten years. He added that all sign replacements are being done on a normal schedule and that because all that is being changed is the style of the lettering no additional money is being spent to change the signs.