New Scenic Byway signs will list local attractions

The Whitman County Commissioners approved a $10,797 project to add 16 new signs to the Palouse Scenic Byway at their meeting Monday.

Whitman County Parks received four bids for the project, and they chose to go with the low bid from iZone Imaging of Texas.

Other bids for the job were from Interpretive Graphics of Salt Lake City with a bid of $11,363, Genesis Graphics, Inc. of Escanaba, Mich., with a bid of $13,525 and Communication One Exhibits of Salem, Ore., with the high bid of $14,319.

Each community on the Byway will receive a sign and sign holder to inform visitors of features in their town, surrounding area and to lead visitors to other towns on the Byway, according to a document prepared by Whitman County Parks Director Tim Myers.

“They are called wayfinding signs and will have a map with two or three locations within that community to show interesting things a person can see in that town,” said Myers. “The signs also show you the next community and a highlight to try to encourage people to stop on the Byway and attract people to the Byway.”

The Palouse Scenic Byway encompasses 208 miles of rolling hills and farmland including Hooper, LaCrosse, Dusty, Colfax, Steptoe and Rosalia, as well as Colton, Uniontown, Pullman, Palouse, Garfield, Oakesdale, Tekoa, Latah, Fairfield and Rockford.

Among stops along the Byway are Tekoa Mountain, Tekoa Trestle, Rosalia Texaco station, Barron Flour Mill at Oakesdale, Elberton Ghost Town and the Manning-Rye covered bridge.

“Each one is encouraging drivers to go to the next community,” said Myers. “Each one is trying to work together rather than individually to bring in this tourism.”

Myers stated in October 2014 that he had hoped for the project to be done by the end of 2014, but it hit some snags along the way with the incorporation of three communities into the Byway in the last few years. Those three communities, Latah, Fairfield and Rockford, all in Spokane County, will also have signs.

Myers said completion of the project will depend on where this project falls in the timeframe of other projects iZone Imaging may have to complete. He said he expects it to take about six to eight weeks for the signs to be completed and shipped. Once shipped, each community will be responsible for installing their own signs.

For more information, visit palousescenicbyway.org.