Highway Signs of the Times
I live and work north of Boston. I drive on Route 128 every day. Lately, it’s been a royal pain in the ass to go southbound between the area of Lexington and Reading–and why? Oh, well, to replace road signs and resurface the road. Sounds somewhat reasonable, maybe, except that the signs were perfectly fine before, and that stretch of Route 128 was far from needing new asphalt. But hey, be comforted to know that is the federal stimulus money being put to “good use.”
Making things worse, we are reminded that $2.6 million of the federal stimulus is paying for these new road signs we don’t need with a very special sign we get to admire while in bumper-to-bumper traffic that says:
What?!?
State transportation spokesman Collin Durrant insists the signs “need to be replaced every 10 years or so. Sign replacement supports jobs and the economy because of the need to fabricate the steel, create the actual signs, and the construction contractors that install them.”
The contractor is reportedly adding only 10 workers to the payroll to handle the job, not that big a bang for the $2.6 million. And what about those self-serving signs touting the politics behind the project?
“They are federally mandated signs,” says Durrant. “The cost of production and installation is covered in the cost of the contract.”
In other words, you’re paying so that politicians can make sure all those Route 128 drivers stuck in traffic will be made fully aware of how their government is spending millions to create a handful of jobs to meet a need that strikes some as low-priority at best.
Sorry, but in these tough economic times, perhaps $2.6 million could be spent better than on roads that don’t need resurfacing, signs that don’t need replacing, and a sign telling us that our money has gone to waste while we sit in traffic trying to get to work. Just because it’s “federally mandated” to replace the signs doesn’t mean we should–especially now. $2.6 million for 10 people to put up road signs and repave the road so thousands of people are late to work? You can take that “federal mandate” and shove it up your ass…
Perhaps the sign should say this:
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TAGS: Collin Durrant, federal stimulus.
Aaron Margolis is a life long resident of the Bay State, and works at an architectural firm north of Boston. Aaron has a Master of Architecture Degree from Boston Architectural College and is currently in the process of becoming of a Registered Architect.
I live north of Boston too and I saw this several weeks ago on some list I came across of possible projects for President Obama’s Recovery Act. At the time, I remember thinking: Gee, I drive that highway all the time. I never noticed the signs or roadway were a problem.
Here’s the problem with big government spending. Someone gets a good, noble idea about the “best” way to spend taxpayer money. So, they put those ideals out. Then, people start clamoring and making their claim for the money. Before you know it, we’re laying off teachers and police officers, being told we’re going to suffer “draconian” budget cuts, and taxpayer money is being used to put up nifty new signs on I95. Is there anyone else who would rather see that money go to a teacher? A police officer? Back into their own wallet?
This isn’t about the “best” way to spend money. The government has no idea what the “best” way is. This is a payoff to loyal democrats and labor unions plain and simple.
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