Signs at airport get a brighter look
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu International Airport is blossoming with bright yellow-green signs to help people find their way more quickly and safely around the terminal roadways.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
The $1.5 million project, started in April, should be finished in October, according to Dennis Higa, chief engineer for the airports division.
A hodgepodge of directional signs at Honolulu International Airport is being replaced with bright, yellow-green signs.
"We had a lot of complaints about poor wayfinding," said Higa, who feels the new signs accomplish their goal of giving information quickly and clearly to motorists who may have to cross four lanes of traffic in a short distance to avoid being caught in the maze of airport roadways.
Higa said he understands The Outdoor Circle, which recently chastised the airport for cutting back trees in a garden courtyard, is not pleased with the new color.
He said the signs make one concession to a "sense of place," in a dark design band at the top of the signs which blends with the superstructure.
But suggestions that the sign panels themselves have floral or other theme backgrounds were rejected for fear they would obscure a message motorists have to quickly take in while moving on airport ramps and roadways.
The key ingredient of the new signage is a 3M product called "Diamond Grade," in a fluorescent yellow-green which the city has also recently used to call greater attention to pedestrian crossings in high-risk areas.
The material is so reflective that it can be seen even in the dark, ground-floor roadways of the terminals, and even when seen against a bright background, Higa said.
The reflective quality should also reduce the amount of artificial light needed to illumine the signs at night, he said.
The new signs replace a hodgepodge of green and white and red and black boards which developed over the years and often confused motorists, he said.
The lettering also seeks to better identify the function of the area it leads to: "departures" is now "ticketing," and "arrivals" is now "baggage claim."
"I've gotten a lot of positive comments from people in the airport, who say they can see the messages standing out more clearly," Higa said. "We had anecdotal records of complaints in the past; a lot of people said they went around and around and couldn't find their way into or out of the airport."
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
