New Idaho Falls signs will show the way to 50 attractions

Teya Vitu//May 13, 2016//

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Idaho Falls is installing 150 wayfinding signs that will point out 50 different attractions. Photo courtesy of city of Idaho Falls.

Idaho Falls is giving its residents and visitors a “to-do” list with about 150 wayfinding signs that will be installed in the next couple of months. These signs will point the direction to a combined 50 attractions reachable by car or on foot.

“This really creates an identity for our city that we haven’t had,” said Greg Weitzel, director of the Idaho Falls Parks & Recreation Department. “People say there’s nothing to do. There is a lot to do. People will be surprised to see there is a zoo, the Museum of Idaho, more than 50 parks, an archery range, a stock car track, the Japanese Friendship Garden” and many other attractions.

The blue signs for cars are eight feet tall – an increase from the original six feet that was evaluated to be two small – and two feet tall for pedestrians. These signs are the next phase after a series of vertical Idaho Falls banners were attached to downtown lampposts last year.

The signs are as much for residents as they are for visitors who drive by on the way to Yellowstone National Park, Weitzel said.

A 30-foot-wide monument sign crafted from lava rock will proclaim Idaho Falls to visitors coming off the freeway. Image courtesy of city of Idaho Falls.

“We want them to realize it’s a great place and to stay an extra night,” he said.

The $600,000 project also includes a large lava rock and waterfall Idaho Falls welcome monument sign at Broadway and Interstate 15. Construction on the 12-foot tall, 30-foot-wide monument started May 2.