Toomey requests “historical exemption” for upgraded street signs in Lower Merion

Pat Toomey is calling on Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to reconsider some road safety rules that would impact Lower Merion’s budget and historical street signs.

The Republican senator wrote to LaHood requesting a “historical exemption” for Lower Merion.

 

The Federal Highway Administration has created new standards for retroreflectivity and visibility that Toomey says don’t jibe with the township’s historical cast aluminum signs.

“For cases such as Lower Merion Township’s, where there is no evidence that existing signs constitute a danger, I support the establishment of such an exemption to allow municipalities to keep historical designs serving as symbols of local heritage,” Toomey wrote.

The signs are replicas of the cast-iron ones design by Alexander Cassatt more than 100 years ago when he was president of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Toomey says he’s coordinated with Lower Merion police to confirm no accidents on record have ever been attributed to the signs.

Additionally, Toomey writes that the cost to make the upgrades is too much to ask of towns: “To comply with just this one change, Lower Merion’s Board of Commissioners estimate the cost would exceed $1.5 million.”

Feed the Feed: Should the street signs be left in place to preserve history?