Cerro Gordo supervisors approve placing donated “Share the Road” bicycle signs on county roads

MASON CITY — The Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors this week approved non-regulatory “Share the Road” signs in county right-of-way to encourage motorists to safely share the road with bicyclists.

The North Iowa Touring Club raises funds for community projects and they’ve completed a similar “Share the Road” sign project in Floyd County. The club is offering to provide between 12 to 20 signs this year, with more being installed in future years with a goal of having signs on every county road. The request was for the county to install the signs and pay for the posts.

County Engineer Brandon Billings supports the effort to increase safety on the county’s roads.  “They are 36-by-36 regulatory signs and color for signs. There’s no regulation for this, it’s just to make people aware to share the road with the bikes and try to increase bike safety on the roadways.”

Billings says his department will take care of installing the signs.  “We’re going to do the installation just because we want to ensure that they are there in the proper offset and elevation, and everything’s correct with the installation so it conforms with the sign regulations. I don’t feel comfortable having anyone else place those signs on the road.”

Billings says the estimated cost to the county to provide a post for each sign is about $44.