Three large signs near the Interstates 44 and 55 interchange south of downtown St. Louis aren’t directing much traffic, though they are turning heads.
The highway signs, meant to guide highway drivers to Memphis (via southbound 55), Tulsa (via westbound 44), or 12th Street, are currently sitting on a patch of grass between Interstate 44 and the LaSalle Park neighborhood. A spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation tells SLM that the signs were supposed to be mounted to a truss just a little bit to the southwest, where Highways 44 and 55 meet.
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However, when crews went to install them, they found they didn’t correctly fit the mount over the highway, called a truss. The signs had to be set aside so the agency could address the issue and get it installed.
This being St. Louis, however, the signs were vandalized over the weekend. A graffiti artist used the signs directing drivers to Tulsa and 12th Street as canvases of their inscrutable tag—SHALR? DLRCS? And apparently, the spray paint can’t simply be washed off. MoDOT says it has replacement signs that actually fit the truss that will be installed tonight.
On Wednesday afternoon, an elderly man on the pedestrian bridge near the Soulard Farmers Market was taking in the vista of the vandalized highway signs. He had a glass-half-full attitude. “The Memphis one’s looking good,” he said.
