U.S. cities forced to spend millions changing street signs thanks to Wash DC.

[Soul Crusher]

U.S. cities forced to spend millions changing street signs... because they are in capital letters
UK Daily Mail ^ | November 30, 2010 | Daniel Bates

Cash-strapped cities and towns across America are having to pay out millions of dollars on new signs under orders of the federal government - because they are the wrong letter size. Washington officials have demanded that every single street sign in the nation which is currently in capitals must be replaced because they are supposedly too hard to read. In their place will be new signs with the same green background and the same font, the only difference being that they are in lower-case letters. For some cities the cost will be millions of dollars at a time when budgets are being cut and salaries frozen.


(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


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NYC alone has to spend 27 Million Next year.    I bet its a well connected union company doing the signs 

[Soul Crusher]

In Milwaukee alone the bill will reach nearly $2million - double the city's entire annual traffic budget.

The regulations are part of a web of red tape included in the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, an 800-page tome issued by the Federal Highway Administration.

It orders that the signs must be replaced because lower-case words are supposedly much safer than capitals.

The rules state that by 2012 local authorities must increase the size of the letters on street signs from the current 4 inches to 6 inches on all roads with speed limits over 25 miles per hour.

By 2018, new signs with reflective letters will have to be put in place. Any signs that are introduced must, under no circumstances, be in capital letters.

 Larger type: The lower-case signs feature letters that, at six inches tall, are two inches larger than the capitals signs. making them easier to read


In Dinwiddie County, Virginia, residents were furious that the bill would come to the equivalent of the $10 for every man, woman and child.

Harrison Moody, chairman of the Dinwiddie Board of Supervisors, said: ‘The money is better spent on education, or the sheriff's department or on public safety than something like that.'

Others in the town said the current street signs worked well enough. Resident Thomas Davis said: ‘There are a lot of people out there that are hungry. Why spend money on street signs when everybody can read a street sign or, if you don't know where you're going, get a GPS.’

In a statement the Federal Highway Administration said the signs are being changed to make them easier to read for an ageing population.

Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez said: ‘If you can't read it, you can't see it or you can't comprehend it, it could be a distraction to you. You could be in an accident, negative consequences could occur.’

He added that in response to the outcry the FHA would announce a period of public consultation over the cost of the new signs, with a view to possibly loosening the rules.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334218/A-case-wrong-case-U-S-cities-forced-spend-millions-changing-street-signs-capital-letters.html#ixzz16n6gcwZ0

[Emmortal]

So why is this now an issue? After how many decades of street signs being the same and people not having problems with them they are magically now too difficult to read?  Too difficult to read for who, people who don't speak English?

[Soul Crusher]

Its called too many damn govt agencies, to many govt workers, too mmuch red tape, too much got, too many busy bodies in govt WITH NOTHING TO DO. 

[OzmO]

More government waste, however, largely symbolic.

[Soul Crusher]

More ocuuption from this Admn.

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SOURCE:  ABC NEWS:


  Nov. 29, 2010

The federal government says THIS is harder to read
than This.

Got that?  ALL CAPS are bad.  Mixed Case is Good.

It's just one reason the Federal Highway
Administration is ordering all local governments --
from the tiniest towns to the largest cities -- to go out
and buy new street signs that federal bureaucrats say
are easier to read.

The rules are part of a tangle of regulations included
in the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. 

The 800-plus page book tells local governments
they:

-- Should increase the size of the letters on street
signs from the current 4 inches to 6 inches on all
roads with speed limits over 25 miles per hour. The
target date for this to be completed is January 2012.

-- Install signs with new reflective letters more visible
at night by January 2018.

-- And whenever street name signs are changed for
any reason, they can no longer be in ALL CAPS.

In Milwaukee this will cost the cash-strapped city
nearly $2 million -- double the city's entire annual
for traffic control.

In Dinwiddie County, Virginia -- with lots of roads
but not many people -- the cost comes to about $10
for every man, woman and child.

"The money is better spent on education, or the
sheriff's department or on public safety than
something like that," said Harrison Moody, chairman
of the Dinwiddie Board of Supervisors.

Many local residents in Dinwiddie say their current
street signs work just fine, and they see no reason to
change them.

 "There are a lot of people out there that are hungry,"
said Dinwiddie resident Thomas Davis. "Why spend
[money] on street signs when everybody can read a
street sign or, if you don't know where you're going,
get a GPS."

The Federal Highway Administration says it's
concerned about safety. The new regulations, which
were written under the Bush Administration, are
designed to make sure that signs are easier to read
for an aging population.

"If you can't read it, you can't see it or you can't
comprehend it, it could be a distraction to you,"  said
Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez. "You
could be in an accident, negative consequences
could occur."

Mendez says he understands, however, the financial
burden these guidelines place on local
governments. As a result, he told ABC News, the
Federal Highway Administration will announce on
Monday a new period of public comment on the new
rules, a step that could lead to easing on the
guidelines.

Whether or not requiring cities and towns to replace
all their street signs improves safety, it would
undoubtedly be a windfall for the multi-billion-
 advertisement  By JONATHAN KARL
READ THIS: Local Governments Told to Buy New Street Signs
Federal Highway Administration Is Ordering Local Governments to Buy New Street Signs That They Say Are Easier to Read
 dollar-a-year sign industry.

The American Traffic Safety Services Association --
which represents companies that make signs and the
reflective material used on them -- lobbied hard for t
he new rules.  And at least one key study used to
justify the changes was funded by the 3M
Corporation, one of the few companies that make the
reflective material now required on street signs.