If the signs in the photo above seem a bit out of place, it might be because they are shaped like old U.S. highway signs, colored like U.S. Interstate Highway signs and firmly planted on Dutch soil. Or, as it turns out, not so firmly planted.
In the two years or so since the N34 highway in Drenthe was renamed Hunebed Highway to draw attention to a series of nearby megalithic dolmens, over a hundred of the distinctive signs have been uprooted and carried away.
The province has forked out over €70,000 to replace them and is getting fed up with the thieves. ‘We are placing 35 new signs after the summer, council spokesman Nick Lubberman told the Telegraaf. ‘The signs will be fitted with an anti theft system which will make it harder to lift them.’ And, legitimate copies are being offered for sale, price not stated.
It's believed that the thieves are souvenir seekers or people who will sell them on at flea markets and the like, although some might wonder if it was the work of diehard speakers of the local Drents dialect who have protested that the highway's English name change would help end use of the local dialect.
Comments (0)