The Deshaun Watson Way road sign at Queen City Parkway has been changed from red to green.
The move comes the day after a letter to the Georgia Department of Transportation from the U.S. Department of Transportation was made public. The letter threatened the city of Gainesville with the loss of federal transportation dollars because the sign - in Gainesville High School red and white - was not in compliance with federal regulations.
"I didn't think it was too funny when they threatened our federal funding for a little sign that's on a road that's not a state highway," said Gainesville Mayor Danny Dunagan in a Friday morning interview on WDUN's Morning Talk. "We were honoring a fine young man from our community that's accomplished so much."
Watson, the quarterback who led Gainesville High School to its only state championship, also was the quarterback for the Clemson University Tigers, this year's NCAA football champions.
The Deshaun Watson Way signs - one on Queen City Parkway and the other on the GHS campus - were unveiled at Gainesville High School's recent 125th anniversary celebration.
Dunagan said the on-campus red sign will stay in place, but the one on Queen City Parkway was switched out Friday morning.
"When they [the staff] changed the Billy Lothridge Boulevard sign they went ahead and changed that one," Dunagan said. "They were not instructed to, but they did it anyway. It's no big deal - we can always put the red and white one back up."
Ninth District Congressman Doug Collins of Gainesville and Dunagan reacted in a written statement Thursday afternoon to the letter from USDOT with Collins calling the letter "overreach."
"That's what upset us. I mean, if we're not in compliance, just say 'look, y'all are not in compliance and you need to change this,'" Dunagan said. "But they need not threaten."
Dunagan said he was contacted Friday morning by Collins' office and federal highway officials had apologized for the way the matter was handled.
