When a tired old road sign disappeared from the spot where it had sat for almost 50 years on the M6 it sparked a social media buzz.
Despite the many thousands of signs that National Highways has on its road network, the information sign for Keele Services in north Staffordshire was unusual in that it was in the central reservation and is believed to be one of the oldest signs of its kind on the network, dating back to the mid-1970s.
With so many people asking where the sign for Keele Services had gone, National Highways’ Matt Sparks launched his personal mission to rescue the piece of highways industry history from the scrap heap.
And thanks to his efforts the sign now has a new home sitting in the Aldridge Transport Museum near Walsall in the West Midlands.
Matt, who works in the Network Occupancy Business Administration Team, discovered that age had got the better of the sign as it was rusting away from its mounts and virtually illegible. To ensure safety, it needed to be removed so the writing was on the wall for the sign which was sitting on the southbound carriageway between junctions 16 and 15.
Self-confessed road nerd Matt said: “There were two tasks, essentially. The first was to see if we could prevent the sign from becoming scrappage and, secondly, where could it go?”
With the help of colleague Richard Hancox, the Network Availability Manager for the West Midlands, the sign was eventually located and stashed away in a highways depot by contractors Colas to keep it safe while a permanent home could be found.
Matt contacted the Aldridge Transport Museum which welcomed the opportunity of having the sign within their collection.
He said: “Obviously there was a need to balance time and resources against outcomes so this could only have worked with everyone’s understanding and buy-in. But many would agree that it would be a shame if National Highways couldn’t save this interesting artefact.
“Yes, it’s looking old, and is a little outdated, but I was so pleased we were able to get it to the museum, thanks to the support of Richard and our partners Colas.
“After all, many millions have observed it over the last 50 years. I just hope they’ll enjoy getting much closer to it, amongst all the other fantastic bits of history within the museum. You could say it truly is a sign of its time!”
Martin Fisher, one of the museum’s leads, said:
“At Aldridge Transport Museum, we are delighted to have the Keele Services sign, donated by National Highways.
“It is the first motorway era sign in our collection and, like all the signs and notices we display, helps to put the vehicles in our collection into context.
“Our visitors like to feel that we transport them back in time with reminders of everyday sights from the past, and – being close to the M6 as we are – many will be familiar with Keele Services, so more memories will be triggered.
“The heritage is everyone’s,” he added, “we are just looking after it for now.”
