Ridgecrest becomes 1 of 3 California cities awarded special highway signs

A city of nearly 30,000 people in the Mojave Desert successfully lobbied the California Legislature this week to help put it on the radar of Southern California travelers, even though it went against Caltrans’ recommendations.  

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Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a Senate bill into effect on Monday that carves out a rare exception for the city of Ridgecrest in Kern County. Although it’s near the popular state Route 395, Ridgecrest is about 7 miles from the highway and hidden from travelers. 

SB 990, authored by Sen. Shannon Grove of Bakersfield, helps close the gap by allowing business logo signs to be placed on Route 395 encouraging drivers to visit Ridgecrest and support its economy. 

“We have all the things you’d expect in a town of this size: restaurants, gas stations, hotels, a Walmart  — anything that a traveler would need,” Rebecca McCourt at the Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce told SFGATE.

Caltrans’ business logo sign program has a population threshold that prevents cities with more than 5,000 residents from having business logo signs on nearby highways. 

Only two other California cities have for an exception. Lincoln was awarded highway signs on state Route 65 in 2013 after the construction of a bypass discouraged travelers from stopping. And in 2015, Truckee was authorized to place business logo signs along Interstate 80 after it exceeded the population cap. 

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Ridgecrest’s legislative success comes at a peculiar time for highway signs in California. In its to the Legislature on the business logo sign program, Caltrans discouraged any changes to the existing law. 

“Caltrans does not support expanding the business logo sign program to other urban areas because of the number of signs that could be requested at a single location and their potential effects on driver distraction,” the agency wrote.

Nevertheless, Grove’s bill received unanimous support from the lawmakers. SFGATE reached out to Grove’s office but did not hear back before publication.