Digital Billboard Doesn't Belong Near Rte. 128

Dedham can have three vinyl billboards torn down, or it can get $25,000 for the next 25 years; and in addition, the billboard company will give the town five hours of television programming per month at no cost and the first option on unsold time slots.

Wow.

What spectacular wins for Dedham!

All Dedham needs to do is give its blessing to a big new sign that is going up in a separate town.

It shouldn’t.

At least not with the arguments they have been offered.

This sign would go on the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority land and the MBTA can put it up without permission at the Westwood train station on University Avenue, near Dedham. Even though MBTA officials need no permission, they want their private sign builder to receive approval.

Dedham selectmen told Stephen Ross of Clear Channel that they would listen to what Dedham residents said and get back to him.

Here is the company’s idea: a billboard that stands 55 feet from the ground, 14 feet tall, 48 feet wide, that features a ‘slideshow’ format that changes signs every 10 second with a LED (light-emitting diode) display.

That display will demand attention of motorists on Rte. 128 and Interstate 95.

And maybe the lights from the sign would bother Dedham residents on the other side of the super highway.

A few other questions should be asked, however.

Is this part of the MBTA effort to gain revenue from various MBTA facilities such as train stations or bus advertising and the like? They say that will help keep MBTA fares low.

Even before the safety tests are complete, Clear Channel is pushing the sale. There are a dozen like-signs in the region that are being tested to tell if they are all safe. Why not hear those results first?

This particular location in Westwood is different from most. It will, at some time, host a $1.5 billion complex that includes hotels, housing, offices, retailers and more right on the super highway and the train station. That $1.5 billion is a decade-old figure, so it might grow.

To put up a region-wide sign on Rte. 128/Interstate 95 without judging the impact on the mega-complex is foolish.

When the complex, named Westwood Station, is built, there will be thousands more motorist passing this 10-message, eye-catching sign. If any of the signs point motorists toward Westwood Station exits, impact on traffic could be disastrous.

Remember, these are not going to be 10 signs guiding people to the MBTA station, they will be advertising.

Advertising seeks to draw and keep viewers’ attention, and 10 consecutive messages will ask for motorists to look 10 times to see each consecutive ad.

Rte. 128/Interstate 95 is not an easy throughway under the best of conditions. With a machine designed to divert motorist’s attention, this ever-changing sign is an invitation to traffic chaos.

Of course the proponents know all of this.

All the tempting goodies – television access, $25,000 a year for 25 years or removal of three vinyl billboards elsewhere – are distractions.

Dedham needs to ask itself if this sign will pose a danger – and the answer is it most definitely does.