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Debate Paves Over Road To Recovery Stimulus Signs

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Sep 28, 2009 9:02 am US/Mountain

Debate Paves Over Road To Recovery Stimulus Signs

Reporting
Andrea Lopez
DENVER (CBS4/AP) ― Some Republicans have accused Democrats of using signs displaying road projects paid for by the government's stimulus package, as political grand-standing. The signs displayed at construction sites read "Putting America To Work."

There are dozens of the signs on road construction projects across the state. Those projects are funded by the mammoth $787 billion federal stimulus package. Medium-sized signs cost about $750 to $1,250, with large signs costing up to $2,000.

The Colorado Department of Transportation doesn't have an exact figure for how much stimulus money has been spent on the signs. That's because the signs are a mandatory part of the overall road bids and not separated from other required signs on construction projects.

CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said federal highway authorities "strongly encouraged" the signs. "They just gave us $400 million and if they want us to put up signs on these projects, of course we will," said Stegman.

Colorado has 37 stimulus-funded roads projects under construction or soon to be under construction, with most projects having two signs, one in each direction. If each project used two medium-sized signs, taxpayers will have spent roughly $55,000 for the Colorado signs.

Critics of the stimulus package call the stimulus signs a thinly veiled advertisement for the spending.

"The fact is those signs have little utility other than advertising for politicians at taxpayer's expense," said Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican from a suburban Denver district. Coffman met earlier this month with federal accounting authorities in Denver about the signs and learned they can cost up to $2,000.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has put more than 3500 to work in Colorado. Nearly 40 projects are going on, worth more than $190 million.

Some feel the signs are a waste of money during tough economic times. Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire tried and failed this month to ban the use of stimulus money on the signs.

CDOT said it doesn't make the signs, they are actually made by private businesses in Colorado, which they said also provides more jobs. "These signs are made by small businesses," said Stegman.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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