Are we there yet? Visitors to Dartmouth could soon have an easier time answering that question.
With no signs in Hanover currently directing outsiders to campus, it's not uncommon to stand on the Green and be asked for directions to the College, according to John Gratiot, associate vice president for Facilities Operations and Management.
A total of eight "trailblazer signs" could change that in the near future, if the College has its way. A Dartmouth sign project received tentative approval last month from the Hanover Board of Selectmen, which has to approve signs in the town's rights-of-way.
"They looked good to us. It looked like a good thing for people who are coming to town to figure out where to go," said board chairman Brian Walsh.
The signs would be located a short distance past the "Town of Hanover" signs currently located on West Wheelock Street just past the Ledyard Bridge, northbound Route 10 north of the Mink Brook bridge, southbound Route 10 near the Dartmouth Medical School and on Route 120 near Greensboro Road, southeast of town.
Three additional signs would be placed near the intersection of Park and East Wheelock streets. One of these, as well as another sign at the split of Park and Lebanon Streets, will point the way to downtown Hanover, in cooperation with the town.
The next step is to meet with a downtown committee about the signs. Members of the town's chamber of commerce, as well as an advisory board charged with creating a marketing plan for Hanover's downtown business district, hope to have the town's logo included on the signs that also point to downtown, according to Town Manager Julia Griffin.
The exact time frame for putting up the signs is unclear, but both town and College officials estimate they'll be standing in the next few months -- and by spring at the latest.
"We've been working on this project on and off for a couple of years. It's not a big rush project, but it's one that we'd like to get done," said Gratiot.
The project has been in the works for several years, but was partly delayed by internal disagreements about the shade of green and shape the signs would take. The sign proposal now calls for dark green, vertical signs which will be two feet wide, two-and-a-half feet tall, and stand nine-and-a-half feet off the ground. Gratiot estimated they will cost between $500 and $700 apiece.
Gratiot said the new signs are part of an ongoing effort to add signage around the College.
