On Monday, I posted a photo of a mysterious sign.
It read “3.454 M,” underneath another one warning of an 11’8″ railroad underpass on South Compo Road.
Alert reader Peter Flatow got the answer — and a promise — from Public Works director Steve Edwards:
Actually we have 4 such signs on our low underpasses. They were installed under the Diane Farrell administration. The signs were given to us by the Department of Transportation under a metric conversion initiative. We never bothered to check the conversion. [“06880″ NOTE: 3.454 meters is less than 11’4″ — a far cry from 11’8”, though at least it’s an error in the “right” direction for a truck driver carrying a high load.]
Good catch by an astute resident. Since the initiative failed miserably, all the metric signs will be removed.
That’s why we love Steve Edwards. But his response got me thinking: There are other signs in town that can be removed too.
Here are a few:
“School Bus Stop Ahead.” There’s one on Wilton Road, and others all around town. Come on — wherever you drive in Westport, there’s always a school bus stop ahead. And if you fail to see a big yellow vehicle with flashing red lights, you probably shouldn’t be driving anyway.
Oh my God! What is that? What should I do?!
“Blind Child At Play.” I’m paraphrasing here, but there’s something like this on South Compo, between Greens Farms and the Post Road. Perhaps it was useful once, but it’s been there for several decades. That “child” is probably now a grandparent. And no disrespect meant, but I’m sure that back in the day, the blind child didn’t play in the road.
I’m sure every “06880” reader has his or her “favorite” signs that they’d like Steve Edwards’ crew to remove.
What’s yours? Click “Comments” below.