Whether it's telling you what road you're on or telling you what road is next, road signs are important. But, while you've been concentrating on the actual signs, what you may not have noticed are the posts next to those current signs.

"In Eaton and Ingham counties this year in two areas we've got a sign upgrading project going on," Michigan Department of Transportation spokesperson, Kari Arend, said.

MDOT will spend $1.2 million to fix 750 signs on I-96 and this is something that's done often.

"Generally they're looked at every five years or if there's a project going in along the corridor," Arend said. "If we have a major project going in we may look at upgrading them then."

MDOT says loose federal guidelines suggest changing signs every five years to make them brighter and easier to see.

"It's especially important for them to be seen at night," Arend said. "For safety reasons, obviously, motorist are going to be able to get to their destination safely."

This change to highway signs has already begun. Crews were out on Wednesday near the I-96/I-69 interchange working on overhead signs. They had the right lane closed down, but don't get use to seeing lane closures while crews work to replace the signs.

"The good news for motorists is a lot of this work will be done off the shoulder so there will be very minimal impact to drivers," Arend added.

The $1.2 million MDOT is spending on these signs has been factored into the budget and is not taking away from any other road construction projects.

The road sign upgrading project is scheduled to be completed around early August.