Pols Spending Millions Of Stimulus $$ On Signs

WBZ

Route 128 could be considered greater Boston's recurring commuter nightmare.

It's not hard to find reasons to complain about it, especially the eternally-congested stretch from Lexington to Reading. But there's one thing you rarely hear complaints about -- the signage along the highway.

But that's precisely what the Patrick Administration has chosen to spend $2.6 million of its federal stimulus windfall on -- replacement of the traffic signs on that roughly 10 mile section of 128. And it looks like the first step has been to erect new signs - touting the potential payoff of the government program.

But a commuter from Billerica wrote us with a question: "Isn't there a better use for those funds than sign-making? All this seems to be is politicians spending our money to tell us that they're finally spending our money."

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.

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