Once again New Mexico is an exception. So far as I know the informal rule among states is that a sign is placed at the state border to welcome travelers as they enter the state. The rule is described as informal because I had never thought about traveler greeting communications until entering New Mexico on Interstate 40 from Texas earlier this week.

New Mexico still has a sign, but it isn’t just any sign. The difference stands as a modest monument to the excesses of the Richardson administration.

The sign is the top part of a sally port-type structure. That means the sign sits on top of two pillars, so that the entire structure forms a gate. The pillars are on either side of the highway. The sign stretches across the road.

The lower part of the pillars have a façade of the sandstone that offers today’s total cliché surface facing. Think banal. Stucco wouldn’t do.

In one sense, the structure is pretty cool; it is striking and interesting. It also had to cost much, much more than the mere sign it replaced, and, as such, is testimony to the massive state deficits. The structure also must send an invitation to every graffiti vandal in Quay County and the Texas Panhandle.

Imagine removing spray paint from the sandstone. That has to be a chore, if possible at all. Of course, this may not be an issue, as maintenance never seems to happen on our painted bridges.

Even if maintenance is budgeted, consider the cost. San Jon, the closest New Mexico community, is 18 miles from the border. Tucumcari is another 24 miles away.