Must Make The Street Signs

A slow news weekend, the Times visits the Department of Transportation’s sign-making shop in Maspeth, Queens and files this report:

As New York City’s chief traffic engineer, Michael R. Harnett oversees the manufacture and installation of around 70,000 traffic and street signs each year. But don’t ask him about the often-pesky messages that are actually on the signs: “Don’t Honk – $350 Penalty,” “Don’t Block the Box,” and, of course, the ever-present “No Parking Anytime.”

Angry about ticket agents? They work for the Police Department. Want to appeal a parking ticket? Talk to the Finance Department. Please. After all, Mr. Harnett doesn’t write the signs. He just makes them.

There are an estimated 1.3 million traffic and street signs in New York City, one for every six residents, and most are designed and manufactured in the Transportation Department’s central shop, an unassuming brick building in an industrial section of Maspeth, in central Queens.

The shop, which has 37 workers, is the largest municipal sign shop in the United States. A hive of quiet and constant activity, it makes about 70,000 signs a year.

And if you’re interested, you can purchase an honest-to-god, real-life New York City street sign:

Signs typically last about 10 years, but especially harsh weather or bright lights can shorten their life. Besides suffering wear and tear, some signs are knocked over – and even run over – by wayward vehicles. Others are vandalized or defaced. Then there are those that simply disappear.

In the past, signs for Wall Street in Manhattan and Hooker Place in Staten Island have been stolen repeatedly. Other popular targets are John Street in Manhattan and Love Lane in Brooklyn.

The department’s Sign Sales Program was established in 1995, in part, so that souvenir-hunters could acquire signs legally.

Some signs evoke nostalgia, like the replicas of signs for the 1964 World’s Fair, the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field. Others, like Mr. Koch’s comical signs, have been retired from official use. Still others – “No Parking Except Lillian” or “Yield to Mom” – exist only in people’s imaginations.

John Jurgeleit, who manages the sign-sales program, said it had grown to about $300,000 a year. The city does not make a profit on the signs, but the program pays for itself and is not subsidized by the city. A modest size personalized street sign costs about $30.

Bonus: Department of Transportation’s Custom Made Signs Information Page