Fixing freeway signs yourself

Give Me a Sign!

(from This is True)

Richard Ankrom, 46, an artist in Los Angeles, Calif., planned his latest masterpiece, a combination paint and performance work, for two years: he altered a major road sign on the Harbor Freeway in downtown. He put up his work in broad daylight, but was unnoticed because he was dressed as a road worker. The audience: 150,000 motorists per day. The payoff: no one noticed, not even state transportation engineers. The plan was to announce the project a year later, but a friend tipped off the press after 9 months. The modification, done to exact Federal Highway Administration specifications, helps motorists navigate a complicated transition ahead. "The experts are saying that Mr. Ankrom did a fantastic job," said a Caltrans spokeswoman. "They thought it was an internal job." The agency plans to leave the modification in place, since it is in fact helpful to motorists. Ankrom says helping out motorists "was the whole point." (Los Angeles Times) …If You Want Something Done Right, Do it Yourself — Industrial Division.

A Put Up Job

Photo composite of Richard Ankrom modifying a Los Angeles freeway sign — in broad daylight. To help motorists navigate a complicated ti-freeway junction, Ankrom added the word "NORTH" and the Interstate 5 shield to the far left portion of the sign so people going that way knew what lane to get in. Yet no one "official" realized it wasn't a real change until one of Ankrom's friends spilled the beans. All six people shown in the photo are Ankrom at different times during the installation. (© Richard Ankrom, composited from photos by Jim Payne, reprinted with permission.)