It seems that almost everybody remembers his or her first time. Then again, it takes more than one try to find buildings on campus when you’re an incoming freshman, political science major Christian Cuerva said.
Now a senior, Cuerva is still having a hard time finding places around campus.
“It’s just not a find-friendly campus, ” he said. “If you haven’t met someone here, you’re definitely not going to find them. It’s just easier to find your way outside.”
To make it easier for visitors and students to find their way on campus, campus design and construction is building an ongoing project to replace old signs around campus.
The project was initiated because of a growing concern from lost visitors, said Mark Woodland, assistant vice president for university marketing.
“We had a lot of people say that they were having a hard time finding their way around campus,” Woodland said. “There was just a lot of concern from visitors about way-finding.”
Most of the old signs around campus, he said, are either falling apart or have been intentionally damaged over time.
“A lot of new buildings have also been built, so signs are outdated often,” Woodland said.
The new signs, however, aim to clear all the confusion more precisely.
The project, which has been in the making for four to five years, is designed for visitors traveling to campus with different perspectives.
The perspectives will be built in “four tiers of signage,” Woodland said.
Signs will be installed for fast-car perspectives and slow-car perspectives, so drivers will be able to read signs at different speeds.
The first phase, which is composed of cement signs for visitors in high-speed cars, began in August and will be finished within a month, said John McNary, project manager.
The cement signs, which are still under construction, are located on Central Campus Drive near the Union, and on North Campus Drive and South Campus Drive. Signs in about 30 other locations are also being built.
The other two phases are signs for areas with high foot traffic and low foot traffic-walking perspective, for visitors and students traveling on foot.
Also, old signs displaying building names will be taken down and replaced.
A new sign with sandstone tiles stands in front of its predecessor at North Campus Drive and University Street.