NYC to Spend $27.5M on Changing Street Sign Font

Known for its notorious gridlock, New York City will receive some federal money to cut down on a traffic-related object.

The metropolis expects to spend $27.5 million on replacing its 250,000 street signs to comply with regulations mandating the signs' font, according to a report in the New York Daily News Thursday. The signs will change from identifying streets with all upper-case letters to just capitalizing the word's first letter.

In other words, WALL ST. will change to Wall St. The Federal Highway Administration told the newspaper that drivers will be able to read the new signs more quickly and then focus back on the road, thus improving traffic safety.

Still, for the government to be spending such a large amount on such a small matter during tough economic times, some New Yorkers told the tabloid they weren't buying it.

"That's ridiculous," James Sullivan, a 34-year-old bike messenger who lives in Queens, told the newspaper. "They might as well just burn the damn money."

The highway agency told the newspaper that under a rule adopted in 2003, cities were given until 2018 to comply.

A city transportation spokesman told the newspaper that the signs would have to be replaced anyway because they tend to only last about 10 years.