Enterprises - high-end interviews - real estate broadcast - focus attention - special planning - Weibo, reporter Luo Qin, Hou Tingting, photographer Liu Chenping. It is understood that at the beginning of this year, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau began to formulate a guide for the establishment of Nanjing road signs, which will be used to guide and standardize the production and setting of road signs by construction, transformation, and maintenance units.
The earliest road signs were mostly made of concrete, later changed to stainless steel materials, and came in single-pole, double-pole, and lightbox forms. Nanjing City had carried out two large-scale updates of road signs at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, equipping reflective stickers maps on the main and secondary dry road signs to facilitate inquiries from out-of-towners. According to the regulations for setting up road signs, the size, font, color, form, etc., of road signs all have corresponding standards. However, the setting of Nanjing's road signs has become increasingly chaotic, not only inconsistent in form but also different in color, including 304L stainless steel plates.
The road signs in streets and alleys are inconsistent as well. For example, the road signs on Jiezhi Gate Road and Beiting Alley come in two different styles, while the difference between the old city area and Hexi is even greater.
A total of 326 new road signs have been set up.
Reason: Multiple entities responsible for setting up road signs
Why are Nanjing's road signs so varied in color and form?
This guide divides road sign styles into three types: Type A road signs for roads with a width greater than or equal to 16 meters, Type B road signs for roads with a width between 7 and 16 meters. Both Type A and B are 2.5 meters above the ground, differing only in the size of the sign. Additionally, Type C road signs for roads narrower than 7 meters are mainly nailed onto walls, about 3 meters above the ground.
In response, relevant personnel from the Municipal Facilities Comprehensive Maintenance and Management Office of the Nanjing Urban Management Bureau stated that it was mainly due to too many entities setting up road signs before. The Civil Affairs Department sets them up, the Construction Department also sets them up, and district-level government departments also conduct settings, each designing their own style without uniformity. They also once submitted a report to the municipal government suggesting the unification of road signs, but due to the need for a large amount of funds for replacement, it ended up being shelved.
Currently, there are at least six to seven types of road signs on the roads.
Diverse forms and colors
In this standardization effort, all road signs with advertisements will be dismantled and reset, and it is stipulated that no advertisements are allowed on road signs in the future.
Standardization: Regulating 30,792 road signs
Further standardizing road names
According to statistics, there are a total of 7,265 roads in the city, among which 3,211 are maintained by municipal authorities and 4,054 are not. A total of 30,792 road signs need to be standardized and set up. It is planned that within three years before the "Youth Olympic Games," according to the financial arrangements of the higher authorities, the work will be gradually improved.
Relevant personnel stated that previously, some roads used the planning names or engineering names during development and construction, such as Guiyi Road and Gui'er Road in Yuhuatai District, which were all temporary engineering names. This time, apart from unifying the styles, road names will also be standardized, all set according to the standardized road names provided by the Place Name Office.
Increasing advertisements
Road signs for north-south directions are green with white letters, and those for east-west directions are blue with white letters. Above is Chinese, below is pinyin, indicating direction. The guide also makes detailed provisions for the materials, geometric dimensions, fonts, and font sizes that should be used for various parts of the road signs, as well as the location for installation.
Relevant personnel from the Municipal Appearance and Landscape Office of the Nanjing Urban Management Bureau stated that many road signs carry advertisements, and some even have advertising lightboxes, running commercial ads. Strictly speaking, these can already be considered outdoor advertisements. According to relevant regulations, anyone setting up an outdoor advertisement must go to the Advertising Brightening Office of the Municipal Urban Management Bureau to handle administrative licensing procedures, and only after approval can they set it up. As far as he knows, most of the advertisements on the road signs currently appearing in Nanjing have not been reported for approval, thus constituting violations.
Based on the guide, the rectification work for road signs throughout the city started in July, with the first batch of demonstration settings involving 21 roads, totaling 326 road signs. These roads include Caochangmen Avenue, Hanzhongmen Avenue, Heilongjiang Road, Mengdu Avenue, Jiangdong North Road, Nanhu Road, Huaihai Road (from Zhongshan South Road to Hongwu Road), Wangfu Avenue, Wenchang Alley, Xianhe Street, Pingjiangfu Road, Zhan Garden Road, Dinghuaimen Avenue, Jiangbian Road, Sipailou (Xuefu Road), Dashiqiao, Xuejia Alley, Jinxiang River Road, Dusi Alley, Jizhaoying, and Zhangjiacaiyuan.
Management: Formulating road sign setting guidelines
Not only the colors of road signs, but in recent years, advertisements on road signs on the streets have also increased. For example, a road sign at the Pearl Hotel intersection on Zhujiang Road has the name of Zhujiang Road at the top, while both sides of the entire lightbox are large advertisements. On Changjiang Road, huge road sign lightboxes feature sports public service advertisements, while on Zhongshan East Road, one side of the road sign facing the fast lane is a public service advertisement, and the other side facing the sidewalk features two maps: one showing an enlarged map of the streets near the road sign, and the other showing a miniature map of Nanjing City.
Disorder: At least six to seven types of road signs
Those with advertisements will be dismantled and reset.