City unveils plan for citywide bike-and-ped wayfinding signs, installation planned for fall 2026

Corey presented the Davis bicycle and pedestrian wayfinding project to the Transportation Commission on June 8, outlining a phased rollout that began with a 24‑sign pilot at the Arboretum and Davis Commons followed by a 172‑sign Phase 1 installation in South and East Davis in 2021 and a proposed Phase 2 citywide installation of 248 signs.

Corey said the project aims to make navigation easier for students, visitors and residents by standardizing sign shape, font size and destination hierarchies and by directing people to lower‑stress routes. He described two sign types—larger on‑street signs for bicyclists and smaller off‑street signs for mixed pedestrian/bicycle paths—and engineering constraints such as wind loads that limit maximum sign size. “One mile we assume is 20 minutes to walk and 6 minutes to bike,” Corey said, describing the time‑to‑distance standards the project will use.

Staff also emphasized a backend automation system to reduce manual design errors across hundreds of signs and noted lessons from the pilot about font readability and sign placement. The implementation timeline presented anticipates completing installation in fall 2026, contingent on final field verification, fabrication bidding and installation schedules.

Commissioners asked whether the project would reuse existing poles (staff: mostly yes), when the outreach began (staff: outreach started in 2017), and how signs will reference nearby elementary schools. Staff said there is no single fixed distance that triggers school labeling; instead, signs are placed along primary and secondary low‑stress bikeways and generally list three destination types—shopping, parks and schools—so students traveling along primary/secondary bikeways should be guided to familiar destinations. Staff said the signs align with preferred Safe Routes to School corridors but will not label a route explicitly as a Safe Routes designation on the signs themselves.

During public comment, bicyclist Gary Sandler praised the project and asked whether new signs and recent pavement markings would reduce confusion around the bike loop and through campus; staff said they are coordinating with UC Davis and not installing signs on university property but are sharing designs so city and university signage can mesh. Several commissioners encouraged staff to treat wayfinding as an ongoing program rather than a one‑time project and suggested developing a rule‑of‑thumb for when to list schools on signs (for example, roughly a mile, as one commissioner suggested).

The presentation also highlighted the Davis bike loop’s importance for schools and annual events, and staff indicated that South and East Davis signs will be replaced at end of life with the updated font and standards over time.

The commission did not take a formal vote on the wayfinding item; staff will proceed with field verification and fabrication procurement steps toward the fall 2026 installation schedule.