Kendall County Highway Department maintains all traffic signs on Kendall County Highways. These signs include regulatory signs such as STOP and SPEED LIMIT signs, warning signs such as curve and intersection signs, street name signs, and informational signs such as city limits and directional signing.

Although some aspects of sign installation are discretionary, most sign locations, sizes, colors, reflectivity, etc. are based on the requirements and guidelines found in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD). The MUTCD is incorporated by reference in 23 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 655, Subpart F and is recognized as the national standard for all traffic control devices installed on any street, highway, or bicycle trail open to public travel in accordance with 23 U.S.C. 109(d) and 402(a). The policies and procedures of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to obtain basic uniformity of traffic control devices are described in 23 CFR 655, Subpart F. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, under authority granted by the Highway Safety Act of 1966, decreed that traffic control devices on all streets and highways open to public travel in accordance with 23 U.S. C. 109(d) and 402(a) in each State shall be in substantial conformance with the Standards issued or endorsed by the FHWA.

Many signs, such as the installation of a 4-way stop intersection, require a traffic investigation to justify the need for such signing. Kendall County generally adheres to the requirements of the MUTCD when investigating this need for certain sign installations. In this way, much of the emotion is removed from the decision to install a sign. Instead, sign installation is based on relative, factual data, helping to create a consistent system of signs on all County Highways.

With this in mind, Kendall County strives to maintain a system of signs that are in conformance with the requirements of the MUTCD. For discretionary signs, such as Deer Crossing or Slow Children at Play, it is the belief of the County Highway Department that such signs are ineffective at slowing traffic, or making drivers more aware of the possibility of deer crossing the highway, and actually cause drivers to pay less attention to signs due to the large number of signs or “over-signing” of a given roadway. Conversely, the Department believes that the proper installation of just the necessary signs helps drivers to be more attentive to these signs, since they will all be of a significant informative or regulatory nature.

In regard to private signing, such as signs for garage sales, subdivisions or political signs, individuals are reminded that Illinois State Law prohibits the installation of signs, or any other work within county right-of-way, without permission from the highway authority—in this case, the County Engineer . The Kendall County Highway Department discourages the placement of any private signing within the right-of-way. These signs can create a sight distance problem or distraction to the driver, and may cause accidents.