The Road Marker Installation

Maryland State Highway Department Sign Shop workers reported to work on Rte. 135 at 7:00 a.m. on Wed., June 2 to install the historic road marker commemorating the Garrett County Roads Workers Strike of 1970. On hand for the installation was Tom Holler, a retired Garrett County Roads Department worker and son of strike participant Lyden Holler. Holler coordinates the 1970 Garrett County Roads Strike Family Group.

It was a small job for the sign shop crew, based in Hanover, Md., who install signs all over the state, including those on I-beams and 4X4s. Historic road markers were once made of cast iron and weighed up to 200 pounds. Today’s aluminum road signs are much easier for crews to handle. AFSCME member Josh Thompson, a three and one-half year state roads employee, was accompanied on the job by supervisors Chris Skeen (11 years) and Jose Amaya (21 years). “I’ve installed hundreds of these signs,” said Skeen, adding that sponsoring organizations pay for some of the markers, while around 10 per year, like the Garrett County marker, are paid for by the state’s historical trust.

Most signs stay up for decades, said Skeen. But one sign in Catonsville was removed for a time because of repeated vandalism. The sign commemorated the Catonsville Nine, a group of opponents of the Vietnam War who broke into a Selective Service office and destroyed the files of individuals eligible for the draft. Residents opposed to the anti-war protest were presumed to be responsible for the vandalism.

Other signs celebrating members of the Confederacy, mostly on the Eastern Shore, have been removed by the state out of respect for the victims of slavery and segregation. Some of the state’s signs, said Skeen, become faded over time. Inmates of state prisons do the restoration. They work hard and with skill, says Skeen, “But sometimes they get a little wild with the colors.”

Before the installation of the marker, which was fabricated in Ohio, the crew touched up the sign with black paint and covered it with a Velcro™ shroud. After cutting the pole to a proper length with a cutting wheel, the crew dug a posthole by hand, inserted the pole and poured a plastic container of Polyset ™ into the hole. Use of the epoxy mixture has replaced the former practice of putting dry cement in a posthole and leaving ground moisture to harden it over time. The Polyset stimulated a chemical reaction that then caused the agent to rise all the way up to ground level. The excess product was trimmed. Turf that was cut away during the posthole digging was replaced around the base of the sign.

And the State of Maryland’s third sign commemorating organized labor was now ready for the dedication ceremony a week away.

Maryland State Highway Dep’t. Sign Shop Workers prepare installation of historic road marker commemorating the Garrett County Roads Workers Strike of 1970. From left: Jose Amaya, Josh Thompson and Chris Skeen. Standing (right) is Tom Holler, retired roads department worker and coordinator of the 1970 Garrett County Road Strike Family Group.

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