5/13/2002: Art sign

The sign above, found on a Los Angeles freeway, wasn't created by the state department of transportation. It was created by artist Richard Ankrom.

Ankrom had some trouble finding his way to his desired exit, and decided to make a project of helping out his fellow drivers. He studied the official signage, then painted a replica "NORTH" and "5" to add to the already-existing CALTRANS sign. He even "aged" his work with layers of grey. He dressed as a worker to install the sign (in broad daylight); he even put a faux contractor's sign on his van (which read "Aesthetic De Construction").

From the L.A. Times story:

"The point of the project, said Ankrom, was to show that art has a place in modern society--even on a busy, impersonal freeway. He also wanted to prove that one highly disciplined individual can make a difference."

And I say, well done sir!

Brilliant! (I wonder if our soon to be deputized truckers will notice and report this kind of behavior?)

Had me fooled

I don't often drive up that section of the 110 freeway (the traffic is always horrible), but last time I did a few week back, I saw that sign and thought "what a great idea. It's about time they marked that easy-to-miss offramp."

It really is a helpful sign. I hope Caltrans keeps it there.

Article says they're going to inspect them, but plan to leave them up. Apparantly this guy put North 5 signs in a couple places, but it wasn't clear (to me) where.

Well, it appears to meet AASHTO specifications.

If I'm not mistaken, isn't CalTrans going to properly number interstate exits in CA? As I currently understand it, interstate exits are not currently numbered, correct?