Local

What's with the new signs being painted on I-95 entrance ramps in Florida?

If you use Interstate 95 for your commute each day, you might have noticed a colorful new feature on some of the entrance ramps.

The Florida Department of Transportation is adding “shields” — red-and-blue highway logos with the highway direction painted in bold, white letters above them.

“This project is part of a statewide initiative to eliminate wrong way driving on the interstate,” said FDOT spokesman Chuck McGinness.

There were 1,490 wrong-way crashes in Florida in 2015 — the most recent year available — with 96 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Palm Beach County led the state in wrong-way crash deaths in 2016, with 10 people killed. Miami-Dade and Broward counties tied for second place with seven deaths each.

Each of the shields costs $3,000 to paint, McGinness said, and the number of shields at each interchange varies.