Route 128 is getting second billing to Interstate 95, and it's costing the state $1.3 million to do it.

The state has been replacing the green highway signs from Lynnfield to Danvers as part of an ongoing sign upgrade project, said Colin Durrant, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Transportation.

As the signs are being replaced, the red-and-blue interstate shields for I-95 are being featured more prominently than the black-and-white Route 128 designs.

The shield "reflects the higher roadway classification," the spokesman said in a voice mail.

The changes to the signs were made at the request of the Federal Highway Administration, which has final say on sign work on interstate highways.

"These revised signs reflect the fact that I-95 is the principal designation for the section of Route 128 between Peabody and Canton," Durrant said by e-mail.

He noted that the state isn't completely removing the Route 128 design from the highway. Instead, it will continue to be provided on separate route markers, Durrant said.

MassHighway has been removing the Route 128 markers from guide signs between Peabody and Canton since 1991, the spokesman said.

Along some North Shore stretches of highway, the older signs have yet to come down, leaving drivers to see double as they merge from I-95/Route 128 to Route 1.

Spending $1.3 million for the upgrades has Danvers Selectman Gardner Trask seeing red.

"I'm not sure the expense is warranted," said Trask, who drives Route 128 to Route 1 into Boston every morning. "I'd rather have $1.3 million go back to cities and towns."

Besides, with driving tools like GPS and print-out maps, he didn't think the new signs were necessary in the first place.

The only way he could understand the expense was if it were required to access additional federal road improvement dollars.

As for Route 128, he thought it should have equal billing to I-95.

"128 is 128," Trask said. "A lot of roads in the state share the same designation. I don't know why they make one more prominent than the other."

Ray Hendrickson, CEO of Peabody-based Christian Book Distributors, bristled at the $1.3 million expense when state leaders claimed they had no money and were raising the sales tax.

"It was complete, complete utter waste," he said. "There are situations like this across the entire state, I am sure. The problem is the state government needs to be like the rest of us where you cut expenses when you don't have the money."

His company is headquartered off Route 128 on Summit Street in Peabody.

The CEO watched highway workers erect new sign posts in the dead of winter and wondered why the state didn't just put up new signs on the existing structures.

"Why go through all this work with a new foundation and everything for these signs?" he asked. "There's virtually no difference."