Cass policy outlines when road signs will be replaced, when paved roads will be painted

WALKER -- The Cass County Board has adopted a Roadway Signage and Striping Guidance Policy the highway department uses to determine when signs will be replaced and when the county's 420 miles of paved roads will have center and fog lines painted.

All lane striping will be done before June 30 each year to ensure adequate time for striping paint to cure.

Roads carrying 1,000 vehicles per day or more will be painted annually. Those with 500 to 1,000 vehicles per day will be painted every other year. Those with less than 500 vehicles per day will be painted every five years.

The county will provide signs on all paved roads and some gravel roads in exceptional circumstances. The signs will have High Density Diamond grade face paint or higher, dependent upon the highway department budget.

Signs will be replaced on a 10- to 12-year life cycle. Highway personnel will conduct periodic nighttime reflectivity observations of all signs to monitor reflective performance, including signs in county right-of-way that face traffic entering from local roads.

Highway personnel maintain a complete sign inventory, including type, size, location, date installed.

Beside routine staff checks of existing signs, the department depends upon reports from the public to locate missing or damaged signs.

If the sign is vital to safety, such as a stop signs, county personnel will replace the sign as soon as the department is notified.

If not directly vital to motorists' safety, such as warning or speed limit signs, the county will replace the sign during normal business hours and generally within three business days. If not important to motorists' safety, such as route markers and adopt-a-highway signs, the county will replace the sign as soon as practical within normal department operations.

If Cass County Highway Department is notified about damaged or missing signs under another jurisdiction, such as the state of Minnesota or a township, the county will notify the other governing authority.