A local man brought his concerns about an oversupply of traffic signage on rustic Alberts Hill Road to the Police Commission this week, asking why so many traffic signs have been installed there.

John Glaberson of Valley Field Road North, a side street that extends from Alberts Hill Road, told Police Commission members on September 4 that 68 new traffic signs have been installed on Alberts Hill Road. Alberts Hill Road is a curving hilly road that links Walnut Tree Hill Road to Echo Valley Road.

The Police Commission serves as the local traffic authority.

“There’s too many signs,” Mr Glaberson said, adding that he has spoken to other people in the area who agree with him. He said that those 68 new traffic signs have been installed along a road section that is only 1.2 miles long.

“Cars still speed around the corners, even with the signs there,” he observed.

“We came here for country charm,” he noted. People in the area do not like the signs’ appearance, Mr Glaberson said. The highly visible signs hold a brilliant reflective yellow field that contains bold black symbols. Many of the signs are posted back-to-back so that motorists traveling in both directions can see warnings for the same sharp curve in the road from both directions.

Police Chief James Viadero said he has spoken to people who live in the Alberts Hill Road area about the many traffic signs that have been posted.

In the past, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) offered to do a study of low volume local roads that lacked sufficient traffic signs and also offered to install them, the chief said. The state used federal grant money for the project. Some of the traffic signs that DOT has posted are warranted, while others are not, Chief Viadero said.

Chief Viadero said police plan to meet with DOT officials soon to discuss the signage issue.

“That road is a concern to us,” he said, adding that the town plans to “pull back” on some of the signage.

Police will discuss with state officials what is appropriate in terms of traffic signage for other local roads that are in the signage project, he said.

Chief Viadero said that some other towns in the area have experienced a large number of DOT traffic signs being posted on their roads.

The chief explained that the state made a list of ten town roads that need more traffic signs.