Blashfield Sign Co. (Fayetteville, NC) was contracted by the US Army to replace the signs at Fort Liberty in North Carolina after its name change from Fort Bragg.
The fort was originally named after Braxton Bragg, a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. The fort was renamed to Fort Liberty on June 2. The change came as part of a Department of Defense initiative to rename military facilities named after Confederate soldiers. Fort Liberty is the only military base that is not renamed after a person.
Blashfield Sign has been the preferred sign vendor at the fort for over 30 years and has made 95% of signs being replaced, says President Matt Blashfield. The fort provided the signshop with drawings, plans and specs for all of the new signs, most of which were exact replacements of the old signs.
“This was a five-month project but the government gave us seven weeks. We finished five days early,” says Blashfield, though he still noted, “It was quite a challenge.”
Blashfield fabricated the signs — most which measure more than 20 ft. wide, 14-17 ft. tall and weigh 1,500 lbs. each — in-house using 4 x 4 x 3/16-in. welded steel inner frames and 8 x 8 x 14-in. treated timber main support poles. The exterior faces were made with ¼-in. Max metal and 3M engineer grade reflective graphics, and attached using hundreds of 3/16-in. aluminum rivets per government spec. Gemini assisted with dimensional metal letters.
The main sign was a custom aluminum structure fabricated in three sections due to its size, which also helped with transportation and installation. The shop transported the signs to each jobsite at the fort then used 4-ft.-diameter augers for footings and cranes for setting. After on-site welding and assembly, they used close to 40 yards of concrete in total, says Blashfield.
The team worked flawlessly and surpassed all government expectations, says Blashfield, though the political nature of the job added some unwanted stress not typically found in the sign industry.
For more information, visit signshopfayetteville.com.
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