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Downtown signs receive funding

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Visitors to downtown Des Moines will get some extra help in finding parking next year from an electronic sign system that will direct them to the nearest parking garage that has spaces available.

On May 10 the Iowa Transportation Commission awarded a grant of up to $500,000 for the Wayfinding Sign System Project, which state officials say will be the first of its kind in Iowa. The system, which city officials hope to have installed by the end of the year, will augment the existing electronic signs at the entrance gates to the downtown parking ramps as well as complement a series of tourist destination signs to be installed by mid-year.

Under the terms of the grant, the city of Des Moines will receive 80 percent of the total project cost, up to $500,000. The city will be required to fund the remaining cost of the project, which the proposal estimated to be $715,000.

The funding will also allow the city to move forward as early as next month with a Downtown Community Alliance project for signs to direct visitors to Des Moines attractions, said Gary Fox, the city traffic engineer. That project, which Fox estimated will cost about $100,000, will create signs for more than 30 attractions in and around downtown Des Moines.

Tourism destinations will share in the cost of the signs in proportion to the number of signs on which they are listed.

Fox said his department hopes to have the destination signs in place prior to the National Governors Association annual meeting, which begins July 21 in Des Moines.