Custom street signs stolen from Old Shandon neighborhood

Anyone trying to navigate Old Shandon near Five Points in Columbia may have a hard time of it after 11 street signs were taken down over the holidays.

Derek Riley, president of the Old Shandon Neighborhood Association, said he noticed the missing signs in late December, but he didn’t have a chance to contact authorities because he was traveling. “If you drive Preston Street from Martin Luther King Park to Maple Street, I think there may be only one corner that has signage,” Riley said.

City officials weren’t notified about the missing signs until Tuesday, said Columbia Traffic Operations Administrator Jed Holliday. They counted 11 signs down Tuesday afternoon, and Holliday said new signs were to start going up Wednesday.

“The problem is they have a custom pole and custom marker – a custom nameplate,” he said.

Holliday said that the neighborhood association had purchased the custom plates, and that the replacement signs provided by the city would be standard issue. He estimated that all signs would be replaced by Friday, or early next week at the latest.

No traffic signs, such as stop signs, were taken, officials said.

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 5:03 PM.