High-tech signs on buses, traffic signals and landmarks will be installed throughout Seattle (U.S.), allowing visually impaired pedestrians to pick up audio messages using an infra red receiver. The new project will provide seamless navigation for blind people for the first time on a regional basis.<br><br>Key backing for the initiative came from U.S. Representative, Richard Baker and Baton Rouge, chief sponsor of the pilot project in the 2005 federal transportation act. If the Federal Transit Authority brands the project as successful and meaningful in three years, doors could be opened for much broader funding in the next transportation bill, Baker said. <br><br>‘Talking Signs’ (U.S.) partnered with Sound Transit of Seattle to win the four year deal for 2 million (Rs. 9.8 crores) grant from federal authorities in a competitive process. “This is a very important development because of the sponsorship by Congress,” Talking Signs president C. Ward Bond said. <br><br>Talking Signs simultaneously is developing ‘PointLink’, an infra red technology that would allow users to point to signs and interpret them in foreign languages and to point to icons and have them provide an immediate link to Web sites about the landmark.<br><br>Meanwhile, the company is linking with advocacy groups for blind people and promoting a movement in the country for audio technology that’s far more powerful than Braille signs.