Generic signs for troops weighed

To the loved ones, neighbors and friends who install them on bridges across Massachusetts, they are heartfelt tributes to service members, made from bedsheets, paint, cardboard, yellow ribbons, and American flags.

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But to state officials, they are traffic hazards. And the state says it has a better idea. Rather than risk one of the signs coming loose and causing an accident, the state is hatching plans to remove them all and install standard metal signs on the sides of highways that feature a prefabricated message: "Welcome Home Troops! Thank You For Your Service!" in big block letters on a field with an American flag and the emblems of the military branches.

The plans come courtesy of an official task force that has been working since December to resolve a long and emotionally wrenching tug-of-war between state officials and veterans' families.

But the latest proposal is fueling more outrage. Several relatives of veterans denounced the premade signs as soulless substitutes for the tributes they crafted themselves and have tended to for years.

"It comes across as saying, 'Well, to appease the public we will go ahead and generically welcome the troops across the state,' and it takes away from the hometown Americana feeling that we want to welcome our particular local hero," said Dick Moody, a retired Air Force colonel who has a son serving his third tour in Iraq and a daughter who just returned from her second tour.

"With a metallic billboard saying we welcome you home, you just lose so much in the emotion and the patriotism," said Moody, the founder of Operation Troop Support, a Danvers-based veterans' support group.

State officials said they have yet to finalize their plans. "We're getting feedback from the veterans' community, and we have nothing to announce yet," said Adam Hurtubise, a spokesman for the state Highway Department.

But officials who have been briefed on the plans said the task force all but agreed last Friday to remove the colorful tributes from bridges across Massachusetts and install on highway shoulders about 20 signs that meet federal safety standards.

"MassHighway is telling us it's a safety issue, and if they say it's a safety threat, then I guess we have to go with their expertise on the matter," said Francisco Ureña, a former Marine who works on veterans' issues for the city of Lawrence. As a consolation to veterans' families, he said, the state may allow homemade signs on local roads, town centers, and rotaries.

But those options are bitter comfort to people like Linda Noone, 50, of Reading, the mother of a Marine who served in Iraq. She put up a series of flags on an Interstate 93 bridge near Wilmington in 2005, after her father, a Korean War veteran, died.

"All I want to do is put flags up and take care of it and that's it - but it's so political, it's terrible," Noone said.

State officials have been tiptoeing around the issue for years. Highway officials first tried to remove the signs in 2006, saying they were concerned about safety. But veterans protested, and the state said it would allow the signs to remain as long as they were securely fastened behind a bridge's fencing.

Last year, the state delved into the issue again, saying all the signs would have to go for safety's sake. But another backlash ensued, officials relented again, and in December Governor Deval Patrick appointed the task force of veterans and Highway Department officials to come up with a solution.

The new metal highway signs emerged as the latest salve. But they, too, have provoked anger.

"They don't give it that personal touch that a family would put up themselves," said Representative Anthony J. Verga, chairman of the Legislature's Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs.

Officials stressed they have yet to come to any final decision and will listen to veterans' families.

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.

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