AASHTO Journal - How the Colorado DOT Makes Roadway Signs

The Colorado Department of Transportation recently released a video that provided a “behind-the-scenes” look at the in-house shop that makes upwards of 10,000 state highway signs a year for the agency.

[Above photo by the Colorado DOT]

Each sign goes through an extensive multi-step fabrication process: From digital printing and high-tech fabrication to the final stick-down process, the Colorado DOT explained in the video.

“We make all different signs, anywhere from street stop signs to the ‘Welcome to Colorful Colorado’ signs,” explained Cory Mauracher, the agency’s sign shop program manager, in the video.

“We make a whole bunch of signs to help the traveling public,” he said. “There are warning signs out there to deal with the hazards along the roads, such as whether it’s a winding road; we have the construction and traffic control signs. As a team we’re putting these orders together, hundreds of signs at a time.”

Several state departments of transportation have provided in-depth looks at their sign-making processes.

For example, in September 2023, the South Carolina Department of Transportation highlighted in a video the “art and science” of how its workers make road signs.

The SCDOT noted in its video that each road sign is designed as a “traffic control device” that must adhere to five criteria outlined in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices or MUTCD. The agency said it also maintains an intricate online filing system that tracks every road sign used across the state’s transportation network.

Also in September 2023, the Ohio Department of Transportation detailed how its sign shop manufactured and eventually installed 36 new highway signs measuring more than 40 feet in width and bearing the state’s new slogan: “Ohio, The Heart of it All.”

The Ohio DOT’s in-house sign shop – based in Columbus, OH – manufactures nearly 100,000 signs annually. Ohio finished installing those new highway signs by December 2023, the agency noted.