New font hitting Ohio's highway signs

ouriel@sanduskyregister.comGROTON TWP.For most people, it's tough to distinguish between orange sodas Crush and Sunkist or candy bars Butterfinger and 5th Avenue.Differences, albeit subtle, do exist.The same holds true for an outgoing font seen on Ohio's highway signs found on routes such as Ohio 2 and U.S. 6.Ohio Department of Transportation officials just launched an initiative to begin swapping out signs inscribed with the font clearview in favor of highway gothic.The change stems from commuters nationwide, who, by a wide majority, want highway gothic font inscribed with white lettering on green, blue and brown background signs, according to state transportation department spokesman Matt Bruning. Many other states, such as Florida, are implementing a similar change.Among two telltale signs separating the fonts: • An uppercase highway gothic "L" is both longer and wider compared to clearview.• A lowercase highway gothic "L" is straighter and doesn't curve or loop like it does on clearview. Changing backUp until 2004, most Ohio-based highway signs actually featured highway gothic font. Then federal officials opted for signs emblazoned with clearview."At the time, the federal highway administration said (clearview) was a better front to use, saying it was clearer and easier to read," Bruning said. "We adopted it and started making all of our signs with that font, and they just recently came back to us, after doing more evaluations and more analysis, and said, 'We no longer feel that is the better font to use.' They're now advising to change back to highway gothic."The expense to revert back to highway gothic won't cost taxpayers an extra penny, Bruning said. Changing the fonts on signs when they're made is a simple procedure."There will be zero cost to the taxpayer for this changeover," Bruning said. "This isn't a safety issue. It's an aesthetic issue."It'll likely take anywhere between 15 to 20 years to replace each clearview sign in Ohio with highway gothic font. It's not known how many highway signs exist in Ohio or how many display highway gothic or clearview fonts.Ohio Department of Transportation officials will begin changing the fonts on all highway signs from clearview to highway gothic. In this provided image, there are subtle differences between highway gothic (left) and clearview. For instance, an uppercase highway gothic "L" is both longer and wider compared to clearview. A lowercase highway gothic "L" is straighter and doesn't curve or loop like it does on clearview.