According to our super scientific poll, almost 90% of you thought that spending $27.5 million on a street sign font change was pretty stupid. And the federal government might agree! Officials say they're "reviewing" the proposed changes to make sure they supposed improved safety is worth the money. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the Daily News, "Given the difficult economic conditions states currently face, asking for additional input on compliance dates is the right thing to do. We want to be sure these safety requirements are reasonable, fair and cost-effective."
The changes must be done by 2018 by the latest, because of another deadline requiring all the signs to be more reflective by then. The state will be picking up the most of the tab, but the city would be responsible for a portion of the amount. State Transportation Commissioner Stanley Gee said, "Given the current fiscal situation, we must weigh the improvements that would come from these required changes against other safety-related priorities."
A 45-day public comment period on the changes starts today. Federal officials says the new font with lowercase letters will make the signs easier to read, but the Highway Administration previously said New Yorkers "opposed the change [because] the amount of improvement in legibility did not justify the cost." Plus Clearview is a such a lame font. If they were talking Futura, we'd say spare no expense!
