Vandalized, stolen street signs come at high cost for borough

KNOCKED OVER— Newly installed street signs near the intersection of Noel Wien, River Bottom Road and Moose Hollow Avenue were knocked over last week. The borough spent last year alone $100,000 borough wide on the replacement of stolen or run-over street signs. Photo by Diana Haecker

TALKEETNA— Stolen and vandalized street signs aren’t something that residents usually get riled up about, but they cost the Mat-Su Borough – and ultimately the taxpayer – big bucks.Borough road maintenance officials say that this summer Talkeetna saw a rise in street sign vandalism and theft. Two stop signs in East Talkeetna were knocked over, the Pow Wow Trail and Haley Road signs disappeared and, just recently, seven stop and speed limit signs were knocked down overnight at Noel Wien leading to the newly constructed road to the Vita Subdivision.

Borough maintenance workers just recently installed stop signs at the intersection of Noel Wien, Moose Hollow Avenue and River Bottom Road, with several 25 miles-per-hour speed limit signs posted as well.

Last week, the signs’ poles were broken off at the bottom and the signs still lay flat on the ground.

According to the borough, the cost of replacing the signs, plus the posts are about $100 each. On top of that, the borough has to pay for the cost of the installation, which runs $60 per hour, and has to send road maintenance crews from Palmer to Talkeetna to perform the installation.

The borough spent $100,000 last year to replace vandalized and stolen road signs, borough-wide.