Signs of the apocalypse: Feds force New York City to spend $27,000,000 to change street signs from all-caps

Was anyone paying attention? Did you happen to note the exact moment when democracy was replaced by bureaucracy in the United States?

The New York Post has the latest example of federal bureaucrats forcing taxpayers to piss away their money:

Federal copy editors are demanding the city change its 250,900 street signs — such as these for Perry Avenue in The Bronx — from the all-caps style used for more than a century to ones that capitalize only the first letters.

Changing BROADWAY to Broadway will save lives, the Federal Highway Administration contends in its updated Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, citing improved readability.

At $110 per sign, it will also cost the state $27.6 million, city officials said.

…The new regulations also require a change in font from the standard highway typeface to Clearview, which was specially developed for this purpose.

As a result, even numbered street signs will have to be replaced.

…The Highway Administration acknowledged that New York and other states “opposed the change, and suggested that the use of all upper-case letters remain an option,” noting that “while the mixed-case words might be easier to read, the amount of improvement in legibility did not justify the cost.”

Damn the expense. The letter of the law must be followed. But only if it’s upper and lower case.

Source: New York Post