To the Editor:

New signs have recently appeared along Route 68 between Canton and Ogdensburg, five on the northbound side and five on the southbound. The scenic beauty of the natural areas along the route where the signs are placed do not need these distracting and intrusive billboards to enhance the appeal.

According to the USA Today Network’s Albany Bureau, the signs are part of an “I Love NY’ promotional initiative by Governor Cuomo for state tourism programs such as “Taste NY”. The signs, now numbering 514 statewide, have been placed even after the state’s formal request in 2013 to erect the signs had been denied by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and was repeated in 2014.

Randy Warden and Neil Gaffney of the FHWA say they violate federal and state standards for highway signs as described in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways while NY State says that they do not. Is it really possible that the standards are so ambiguous that the state may interpret the standards as they please?

If there are federal and state regulations governing road signs, don’t they have to be followed or is it the state’s position that it may accept the federal government’s highway monies but pick and choose the regulations it wishes to obey?

Jason Conwall, spokesman for Empire State Development (ESD), which manages the state tourism programs states, “We’ve put up similar signs in the past as part of this state’s multi-pronged efforts to boost tourism – and it’s paid off.”

Is Mr. Conwall’s argument based on the idea that two or more wrongs make a right or is it that since it has paid off in the past, the end justifies the means? The cost of materials, not including labor, for the signs is approximately $1.76 million.

Todd Westhuis, acting director of the NY State DOT Office of Traffic Safety and Mobility wrote the FHWA, “The sign designs and spacing seek to impress simple but memorable information for later recall without posing a distraction.”

If the governor and the ESD would like to provide information for tourists from Canada, perhaps the economic development zone adjacent to the border crossing in Ogdensburg would be a more attractive alternative for the placement of signs that do not violate federal and state regulations.

Peter Cain, Canton

Gene Newman, Canton

John Newman, Lisbon