Stimulus road signs in Pennsylvania cost $60,000 -- themorningcall.com
-- The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is spending $60,000 of its stimulus money on $2,000 road signs to highlight projects funded by the massive economic recovery package.
The large green signs mark about 30 of what PennDOT calls ''higher visibility projects'' statewide. Each denotes the project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and features the act's logo.
Nationwide, several million dollars are being spent producing the signs.
PennDOT spokesman Steve Chizmar said Pennsylvania elected to take a ''middle-of-the-road'' approach to the federal government's strong encouragement that the signs be put at every project site around the state, choosing only those that were most visible to the public. The stimulus package is pumping $1 billion into the state for hundreds of road and bridge repairs.
PennDOT's not alone in touting the stimulus package. The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority requires all contractors to post the act's logo on construction sites. ''The logo must be at least six inches in diameter and displayed in a prominent place,'' reads a line in the agency's Recovery Act requirements.
The state also is paying political strategist and media consultant Ken Snyder $9,090 a month to help with publicity relating to the stimulus package.
''Obviously it is important to educate the public about where the recovery dollars are working in the commonwealth,'' PennDOT's Chizmar said. ''The public deserves and has a right to know.''
That hasn't quelled criticism from some who see the signs as a waste of money.
Tabitha Vavrick, 42, a hair stylist at Plaza Barber Shop in Quakertown, was never a fan of the $787 billion stimulus package. This, she said, adds to her fury.
''I think it's just atrocious,'' she said Thursday. ''The roads are terrible. We've got bridges falling down. There are other things that money could be going to.''
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