Narrative:

Was told to taxi from spot 6E; north on left; right on ed; south on M; hold short of M10; planning 17R departure. Originally planned runway 8; but was changed at last minute sitting at 6E. As we approached ed (or what I thought was ed) started turning right but the first officer said no; that's not the right one. I couldn't see any 'ed' sign on the taxiway. All I saw were about three 'cn' signs all around that area. Got about 45 degrees into the turn; hesitated; but turned back onto left thinking perhaps we turned too early. Ground said; 'no; company; you should have turned there; you missed it; continue up left to 'Z;' turn right and right again on M; hold short of 'ed.' ok; now at this time; 'ed' was closed between 'M' and 17L. I can't tell from the airport taxi chart where 'cn' and 'ed' begin and end because they are basically the same piece of concrete. The signage was inadequate. I also noted just before we taxied out there that a company airplane a few planes ahead of us in the sequence had hesitated at that same spot; but then ground told them to keep going; right on 'M;' etc. The fact that he hesitated the way he did made me think in retrospect that perhaps he had the same problem we had with the signage. It turns out that two additional regional jets taxiing behind us did the same thing and ground quipped; 'I've been telling everybody to turn on 'ed;' what's the problem?' (or words to that effect). Transmission blockage ensued; you could hear words from the taxiing aircraft that the signage was really bad there; but I don't know if ground heard it or understood it. Can somebody tell me on the chart where taxiway ed starts? Is it at 'M' or 'left'? It would have been a lot simpler if ground said; right on 'cn' then right on 'M'..... Etc. These controllers live there and know this place like the back of their hand; but I think they get complacent in their instructions not realizing that the signage is lousy in that location; especially when they close parts of the same taxiway they want you to taxi on. There were additional taxiway closures of 'cn' west of all that area due to construction; so there's not much room to maneuver to see the signage. I'm not blaming the first officer for telling me to stop because anybody could have made that mistake given the lousy signage.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew failed to properly follow taxi instructions at DEN; citing Taxiway ED is not clearly distinguished from Taxiway CN when taxiing north on Taxiway L.

Narrative: Was told to taxi from Spot 6E; north on L; right on ED; south on M; hold short of M10; planning 17R departure. Originally planned Runway 8; but was changed at last minute sitting at 6E. As we approached ED (or what I thought was ED) started turning right but the First Officer said NO; that's not the right one. I couldn't see any 'ED' sign on the taxiway. All I saw were about three 'CN' signs all around that area. Got about 45 degrees into the turn; hesitated; but turned back onto L thinking perhaps we turned too early. Ground said; 'No; Company; you should have turned there; you missed it; continue up L to 'Z;' turn right and right again on M; hold short of 'ED.' OK; now at this time; 'ED' was closed between 'M' and 17L. I can't tell from the airport taxi chart where 'CN' and 'ED' begin and end because they are basically the same piece of concrete. The signage was inadequate. I also noted just before we taxied out there that a Company airplane a few planes ahead of us in the sequence had hesitated at that same spot; but then Ground told them to keep going; right on 'M;' etc. The fact that he hesitated the way he did made me think in retrospect that perhaps he had the same problem we had with the signage. It turns out that two additional regional jets taxiing behind us did the same thing and Ground quipped; 'I've been telling everybody to turn on 'ED;' what's the problem?' (or words to that effect). Transmission blockage ensued; you could hear words from the taxiing aircraft that the signage was really bad there; but I don't know if Ground heard it or understood it. Can somebody tell me on the chart where Taxiway ED starts? Is it at 'M' or 'L'? It would have been a lot simpler if Ground said; right on 'CN' then right on 'M'..... etc. These controllers LIVE there and know this place like the back of their hand; but I think they get complacent in their instructions not realizing that the signage is lousy in that location; especially when they close parts of the same taxiway they want you to taxi on. There were additional taxiway closures of 'CN' west of all that area due to construction; so there's not much room to maneuver to see the signage. I'm not blaming the First Officer for telling me to stop because anybody could have made that mistake given the lousy signage.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.