“Over the period of the last six months we have given the campus a facelift,” said Chief of Police, Jeff Branson, “and replaced all the old signs with modern looking signs, new poles, etc.”

Small changes have been made to Lake Land College’s (LLC) Mattoon campus. Over 300 signs were replaced in order to keep the campus looking sharp. However, in the process of replacing all of the signs Branson said that because of a miscommunication, there was a yield sign put at the north entrance by the gas station, even though incoming traffic has the right of way.

This small mistake put many cars to a halt, and caused many traffic jams. 

“You had three stop signs and now a yield sign, and we don’t need to yield there. They have the right of way; everybody else at the other stops has to yield to the inbound traffic. It’s been that way, and it’s the way the traffic flows.” Branson explained.

The yield sign has now since been removed, after the college received multiple complaints about the traffic jam it caused. Now a speed limit sign takes its place, so as to not have an empty pole sitting there.

“We got them all right except for one.” Branson joked about the minor mistake. “When you put up 300 signs, I feel pretty good that there was only one mistake.”

The campus facelift has been going on since the start of the fall semester. This includes new road signs and poles, and directional signs for the inner campus. 

Branson noted that the state of the signs was not so great, “The signs were getting pretty tattered looking, it was time for a facelift.”

Branson continued, “Some of the signs were really faded. When you put up a red and white yield sign, that red after about 10 years is more pink!”

The update of signs is not all that is in store for the Mattoon LLC campus. Once phase one comes to a close, phase two will initiate. The main focus of phase two is landscaping.

“There’s a lot of things coming down the road to make the campus look better.” Branson finished.

There will be plenty of updates to the campus for on-campus students to enjoy in the upcoming semester.