A set of two signs on a Carbon County road that have been destroyed by vandals with guns are examples what the Utah Department of Transportation, county road department and city road departments face each year. Some signs are mowed down by vehicles, some are shot up like this and many are stolen. The basic cost of putting up a new single sign averages about $200, but damaged and vandalized signs often incur costs that near that due to the fact the old sign needs to be removed and new ones installed.
More specifically, the cost to replace a typical stop sign is $150 according to Myron Lee, UDOT Region 4 public relations officer. According to Lee the annual budget for replacing damaged signs at UDOT is $1.5 million, but that is seldom enough money to actually perform the task. That money comes from the gasoline taxes all motorists pay.
But besides the costs of replacement, damaged signs can cause accidents when they are knocked off the poles or damaged to the point they can’t be read and observed.
Replacements cost taxpayers money
