Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Pennsylvania congressman Bud Shuster for the original imbroglio. Shuster is still well re-
membered even in the real world for spearheading an array of pork-barrel transportation
projects inhisdistrict, butinthe road-geek world,he'sascheming supervillain ofFuMan-
chuproportions.In1991,ShusterinsistedthatanewhighwaythroughAltoonabesignedas
Interstate 99—in violation of national guidelines—despite the fact that it lies between I-79
and I-81.
The numbering was out of order
!
To roadgeeks, with their sometimes Asperger-
like insistence on order and constancy, this was an unforgivable sin.
But the road buff's eye for detail often performs a public service as well. We all rely on
the design of the nation's highway system every day, whether we're commuting to work or
buying a head of lettuce shipped to us straight from California on I-80, but how many of
us actually follow proposed improvement projects or monitor new road signs to make sure
they're right? Roadgeeks are the only ones writing huffy e-mails to their state transporta-
tion departments when they notice confusing signs or misnumbered shields, and time and
again, from Kanab, Utah, to Pensacola, Florida, they've been pleased to see the errors they
reported fixed the next time they've driven by. We may not know it, but we are all in their
debt.
The patron saint of these highway watchdogs is Richard Ankrom, an artist fed up with
the confusing interchange between the Pasadena Freeway and I-5 near his downtown Los
Angeles home. Instead of waiting for the state to replace the unhelpful overhead sign, he
conceivedofanartinstallationhecalled
“
GuerrillaPublicService
,”tobeperformedbefore
an audience of 140,000 motorists every day. Ankrom crafted a perfect replica of a regula-
tionCaliforniaDepartmentofTransportationdirectionalmarkerandI-5shieldmarker,and,
earlyonemorningin2001,hearmedhimselfwithanorangevestandhardhat,somesafety
cones, and a fake invoice in case he was challenged. Twenty minutes later, the “art” was
successfully installed on the sign—so seamlessly that nobody even noticed the fix for nine
months.Whenafreeweeklypaperfinallybrokethenews,Caltransroundlycondemnedthe
projectasvandalismbut,unabletoarguewithprogress,leftthehomemadesigninplacefor
thenexteightyears,whereithelpedmillionsofAngelenosandtouristsnavigatedowntown
successfully. In 2009, Caltrans finally replaced Ankrom's sign with an official one—but
the new one still incorporates Ankrom's improved design.
*
