Staff writer
No one seems to know quite when or how the street sign at the intersection of Eagle and 120th Rds. southwest of Hillsboro disappeared.
The appearance of a replacement, in colors red, white, and blue, is just as mysterious to some who live nearby.
“I just came home from work one day and it was there,” Maureen Razor said. She and her husband, Forrest, live north of the intersection on Eagle Rd.
Neither Razor nor Reuben Schroeder, a neighbor to the south, had any ideas about who created the makeshift sign.
“I’m glad they put one up,” Razor said. “If you have family members who don’t come very often, it’s easier for them to know where they are.”
There are no outstanding landmarks at the intersection. A sign is the clearest indicator to east-west travelers they have found Eagle Rd., and whoever created it apparently wanted people to see it. They used the existing pole; however, they didn’t use the standard white-on-green motif.
“It looks like someone has taken two blue reflectors, and taken some reflective tape and wrapped it on the pole,” Razor said. “The sign is white, and in red lettering they wrote the word Eagle.”
Razor said she was aware of the county’s new replacement program, which gives landowners the opportunity to replace missing rural signs by paying $100 for new ones.
“I just don’t think we, the citizens, should pay for that,” she said. “We pay taxes, that’s what they should go for.”
County Road and Bridge Superintendent Randy Crawford agreed, but said a fixed budget and the unpopularity of tax increases leaves little for street sign replacement.
“As far as our street signs, no, it hasn’t been a priority because other priorities have come up,” he said. “You’ve got to pull the money from asphalt or rock or somewhere else to spend on street signs.”
Just three people have requested signs through the voluntary sign replacement program, Crawford said.
“I don’t have an answer,” he said. “I’m trying to get some money from a grant. We’ll take any donations.”
As for the Eagle Rd. sign, Crawford said it violates signage regulations.
“We’ve got rules and guidelines we have to follow under KDOT, otherwise we’d have all kinds of weird things out there,” he said.