John Matthews
WMAL.com
DALE CITY, VA — (WMAL) A familiar icon for daily I-95 commuters is gone. And that’s a good thing.
The huge Potomac Mills sign, which for decades has hung on a pair of pillers alongside the southbound lanes of the interstate was pulled down Sunday night, two days after it bent in the heavy winds, forcing southbound I-95 to be closed as a precaution. Structural engineers with VDOT had feared the sign could otherwise have fallen into traffic.
Southbound traffic was redirected to the 95 express lanes for the weekend and tolls were suspended. A crew used cables attached to the sign to yank it down Sunday night.
The fierce storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of area residents and toppled trees across the region Friday. As of Monday morning, tens of thousands of homes were still in the dark, with local utilities saying it could be Tuesday before all service is restored.
We were on site when the iconic Potomac Mills sign was removed. Check out the video! pic.twitter.com/KJ73ulVBr6
— VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) March 5, 2018
Copyright 2018 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: VDOT/Twitter)
