Joe from Denver writes, “What’s driving you crazy? On westbound Thornton Pkwy that crosses over I-25, the sign that points to I-25 for Colorado Springs, it is abbreviated Colo SPRS. Why??? It has always driven me nuts. We all know it should be SPGS not SPRS as in Spurs.”
Questions like this make me love this segment. I first researched the standard abbreviation of springs. According to the United State Postal Service , the standard is “SPGS.” They even list their commonly used street suffix and abbreviations for springs as “SPGS,” “SPNGS,” “SPRINGS” and “SPRNGS.” Never do they use “SPRS.”
In my searching, the only common use for the SPRS abbreviation I found came from the US Department of Defense. The “Supplier Performance Risk System,” or SPRS, is a web-based application that collects, processes and displays information about supplier performance for the DoD. Basically, a report card that shows a defense contractor’s level of compliance with DoD security controls.
About the only other references I could find for SPRS is SPRS Racing Sports in the Philippines that makes motorcycle racing track suits, the Single Point Registration Scheme (SPRS) for the Government of India’s National Small Industries Corporation to participate in governmental purchases and the Seafood Processors Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant Program that provides COVID-19 grants to eligible state agencies and territories to support seafood processors.