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I Love NY signs: 80 percent to be removed from highways

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration has pledged to remove about 80 percent of the I Love NY signs from along the state's highways and relocate them to parks, historic sites and rest stops as part of a deal struck last week to avoid a $14 million federal penalty.

ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration has pledged to remove about 80 percent of the I Love NY signs from along the state's highways and relocate them to parks, historic sites and rest stops as part of a deal struck last week to avoid a $14 million federal penalty.

New York and federal highway officials have so far declined to release the full agreement detailing what will happen with the controversial signs, which the state spent $8.1 million to erect in rapid succession along its highways despite explicit warnings from federal regulators that they violate U.S. rules and state law.

But a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation released a key detail late Monday, revealing that the vast majority of the signs will be moved away from the side of the highways.

The agreement between the Federal Highway Administration and the state DOT will allow the "motherboard" signs — the first in the groupings of five — to remain up largely at borders to the state's regions as part of an experiment that will be reassessed in the coming years.

The remaining four signs in each group — known as "follow-up" signs — will be "rebranded" and moved from the highway right-of-way, according to the state.

There are currently 514 I Love NY signs across the state, which includes both motherboards and follow-up signs, which number at about 400.

As part of the deal, the state got back $14 million in funding that federal highway regulators first withheld in February when negotiations over the signs were at a standstill. The fine had been set to become permanent Oct. 1.

"The current follow-up signs will be rebranded as part of a new tourism campaign and relocated at major NYS parks, Path Through History sites, text stops and rest stops to help drivers find these attractions," state DOT spokesman Joseph Morrissey said in a statement Monday.

A total of 514 signs -- including these "motherboard" signs -- are located throughout the state.

The large, blue signs have been at the center of a five-year, behind-the-scenes battle between state and federal regulators.

They tout the state's various tourism programs, including Path Through History and Taste NY, and promote its I Love NY tourism app and website.

The battle spilled into public view in 2016 when Cuomo's administration ignored warnings from its federal counterparts and dramatically expanded the signage throughout the state, paying overtime and using emergency contracts to ensure it was up before the July 4 holiday.

The Federal Highway Administration says the signs violate federal signage rules in dozens of ways — including the use of non-compliant fonts and logos, displaying a web address and being spaced too close together — that present a distraction without providing useful information to drivers.

The federal government can withhold highway funding from states that don't comply with the signage rules, as it did with New York in February. New York, meanwhile, has a state law requiring it to comply with the rules.

On Friday, the state DOT and federal administration announced they had reached a preliminary deal on the broad outlines for an "experimental" plan, which will allow the state to stretch the signage rules and keep some of the motherboards on highways for a period of time to study their impact.

A spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration said Friday that the state made a "written commitment" to comply with the signage rules.

Neither the federal administration nor the state have released that commitment despite requests to do so.

In a joint statement Friday, state DOT Commissioner Paul Karas and Thruway Authority Executive Director Matthew Driscoll said more details would be released when a final plan is submitted in the "coming months."

"We will coordinate with our federal counterparts once we have more details on this new effort and we will announce the campaign as soon as it is completed," Karas and Driscoll said in the statement.

On Monday, Morrissey said the agreement is for a "first-in-the-nation experimental project" that will "allow signage that highlights cultural, historic and other significant state attractions off the highway system and provides navigational assistance to drivers."

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