New Pa. license plate design featuring the Liberty Bell will be available in 2025

Gov. Josh Shapiro and PennDot announced Tuesday new highway signs and a decorative new license plate to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the country.

The new license plates have blue number lettering, an image of the Liberty Bell, and the phrase “Let Freedom Ring” in red lettering against an off-white plate.

Pennsylvanians can sign up to receive information about securing the commemorative plates, which won’t be available until spring 2025, ahead of the semiquincentennial celebration in 2026.

The cost for the new plates is not yet known, but it currently costs $13 to replace most plates, according to PennDOT spokesperson Alexis Campbell.

The new highway signs are similarly simple and retro-looking. Letters in red and blue, reading “Welcome to Pennsylvania,” “Est. 1681″ — the year Quaker William Penn founded the colony with a charter from King Charles II — and “Let Freedom Ring,” adorn the white sign. It also features Philadelphia’s iconic Liberty Bell. Shapiro’s name is prominent at the bottom.

There is one design error in the highway sign. The crack in the Liberty Bell is illustrated as angled slightly to the left. In reality, the crack is angled to the right. It’s illustrated correctly on the license plate.

Eight signs have already been installed at state border entrances in Adams, Bucks, Erie, Fulton, Monroe, Potter, Susquehanna, and Tioga Counties.

An additional 29 signs will be put up in the coming months, according to Shapiro’s office and PennDot. The cost for the signs is an estimated $343,000 and will be covered by the state’s tourism budget, said Campbell.

The recently installed welcome signs have already created a buzz on Reddit, where reviews are mixed. A photo of the sign at I-80 prompted more than 350 comments about the overall design and the slogan itself.

Many commenters liked it, and appreciated the “simple” design’s “charm” and “old school vibe.”

Others felt more neutral. “I’m OK with it,” said one Reddit user. Another didn’t love the design, but said “it feels more Pennsylvania-ey” and called it a “slight upgrade” from other signs such as the blue, green, and white “Pennsylvania Welcomes You.”

On the matter of slogans, one past phrase emerged as a crowd favorite: “Pursue Your Happiness.” While no one took specific issue with “Let Freedom Ring,” users did suggest more Pennsylvania-specific wording such as the former “America Starts Here,” or “Cradle of Democracy.”

Of course, there were some haters. “It looks like something my aunt would make in Powerpoint,” said one commenter.

Pennsylvania has positioned itself as a sort of ground zero for the United States Semiquincentennial celebration in 2026. There’s the America250PA Commission, established by then-Gov. Tom Wolf in 2018, and in 2021, Pennsylvania became the first state to partner with the official national celebration, America250.