According to an article in this week's Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the signs erected at several road construction sites stating "Project Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" (ARRA) are causing a big stir due to their price... $1500 per sign plus $100 for installing them.

When I first saw the signs, I admit that they reminded me of the old "Your Highway Taxes At Work" signs that, as a child, I used to see at such places as the GA 5/Douglasville/Whitesburg exit from I-20, when I-20 was still under construction between GA 5 and the Alabama state line and it was a stretch of semi-rural to rural highway (as opposed to being a major western Atlanta suburban artery).

Those particular signs were kinda "plain jane", their most "flashy" feature being an Interstate shield for whichever Interstate was being constructed. I wonder how much it cost to make and install them back in the 1970s?

As for the current ARRA signage, I can understand the outrage of taxpayers who see tens of thousands of dollars of our tax money being spent on these signs. Interestingly enough (according to the AJC article), the Federal government does not require states to place the signs at ARRA-funded project sites, but "encourages" them to do so.

Perhaps the $1500-per-sign cost has to do with there being some graphics such as the Recovery.gov and USDOT TIGER logos, plus the orange "Putting America To Work" sign with the standard "Men Working" picture sign. To decrease the cost per sign, I would probably opt to make it a plain green sign that would eliminate the orange sign, keep the green sign's wording, and put the "www.recovery.gov" at the bottom of the green sign in lieu of the logos. No matter how you put it, though, them signs ain't cheap.

2 more things before I go...

- I was recently interviewed by fellow ham radio operator Ted Randall for his "QSO" talkshow. Please click here to listen. (NOTE: I'm featured on the second half of his show.)

- Fellow Georgia blogger Lisa (a.k.a. "elementaryhistoryteacher") has published the latest Georgia Blog Carnival on her website. It features links to several Georgia-related blog postings (including my recent blog about the I-85 HOT lanes toll system bid winner).

That's it for now. I've had a long day and it's time to get to bed. Thanks for reading and please come back again.

        

 

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