The Denver City Council on Monday night approved contract revisions doubling to $14.5 million the amount Denver International Airport will spend to install and operate a lighted welcome sign.

DIA’s original contribution to the installation along Peña Boulevard, as of last December, was $7 million. But now DIA will take on the sign’s entire upfront cost, $11.5 million, which hasn’t changed but had been shared with a partner. DIA also will pay about $3 million for 12 years of operation and maintenance.

The higher costs, approved 8-1 by the council, are in service of a project that officials hope will establish an iconic entry to DIA.

The sign, already installed and ready for testing, includes a 1,000-foot span of LED-lighted poles and screens that will form a dynamic “ribbon” of moving light in the median of Peña, visible to drivers in both directions.

After inking the original deal to share both costs and advertising revenue with Panasonic Enterprise Solutions — which would have maintained the sign at its own cost — DIA officials say they discovered that Peña Boulevard was designated as part of the National Highway System. Federal regulations that restrict commercial development on designated highways complicated the public-private arrangement, officials say, and that prompted the renegotiation.

DIA maintains that the classification for the eastern part of the road is erroneous because it’s on airport land and wasn’t federally funded. Officials are pushing to reverse the designation.

But to move forward, Panasonic had to take a step back into a more traditional contractor role.

Councilman Rafael Espinoza called the contract revision for a separate vote, then was the only member to vote against it.

He said after the meeting that he saw better uses for the money at the airport and viewed the sign as unnecessary, given DIA’s rapid passenger growth. “We just don’t need it,” Espinoza said.

Located between E-470 and the overhead crossing of the University of Colorado A-Line train, the welcome sign installation could be activated permanently by late October or early November, DIA spokesman Heath Montgomery said.

Under the original contract, Panasonic would have provided $4.5 million of the sign’s upfront cost. On the back end, the Panasonic subsidiary, which is part of the nearby Peña Station Next smart city development, would have pocketed 57 percent of the advertising income produced by the screens on the installation.

Now DIA will keep all ad revenue, which for now is expected to come from on-airport advertisers such as airlines and concessionaires. It will control ad sales and also could run public service announcements.

“Under the old arrangement, because Panasonic was putting capital into the deal, the revenues were going to be split,” said Patrick Heck, DIA’s chief commercial officer, during a council committee meeting Oct. 4. “So the financial picture for the airport … could be significantly better for us.”

That’s if ad sales meet projections, a risk Heck acknowledged. But he said the airport could afford to wait longer than a private partner to recoup its upfront costs.

The original 16-year contract term has been cut back to 12 years, with Panasonic paid to operate and maintain the sign during that period.