New wayfinding signs have been popping up around High River since before Christmas.

The bright, colourful signs are designed not just for vehicles but also for pedestrians.

They also show landmarks that fans of Heartland need to know, like Maggie's Diner as well as murals that populate the downtown.

High River CAO Chris Prosser says the town actually got the ball rolling on this a couple years ago.

"It's a new plan that was developed back in 2017 that we're just starting to implement now. And it's going to replace the existing wayfinding signs that you see elsewhere so, they'll be new gateway signage in the future and then there will be an expansion extension of the wayfinding system throughout our pathway system as well as throughout the remainder of town."

Prosser also says most of the money for this phase is from the province and we'll have about 38 new signs going up downtown.

"The first round here is about $400,000 dollars' worth of signage and that was primarily funded through a provincial grant as part of our recovery from the flood [of 2013]. And then the rest is going to be taxpayer funded or if there are grants programs we'll go after those too, but it'll be dependent on budget every year and we'll ask for certain amounts to continue on the program."

One of the big differences from the new signs compared with the old signs is they're designed for both vehicles and pedestrians.

"So, we've got a combination of vehicle wayfinding signs as well as the signal poles that are kind of like the M*A*S*H signs you see around town that are pedestrian scale that have maps on them so that visitors can find their way around the community."