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A welcome sign at the Salem-Keizer border frequently wrecked by car crashes has once again been destroyed – this time by city crews.
The sign, which declares that the two cities are “working together,” has cost the city of Salem around $72,000 to fix in just the last three years. Crews tore down the brick structure on Nov. 26, leaving only trees and shrubs.
It was one of three signs on the circular wall that sat on an island at the junction of Broadway Street, Stark Street and River Road. The two other signs welcomed drivers to Salem and Keizer.
Now, Salem officials plan to replace the sign with a new one that is more financially sustainable for the city and easier for its Public Works Department to replace, according to Kathleen Swarm, the city’s recreation program manager.
“This sign has been causing problems for years and years, and is a huge burden for this city to keep up,” Swarm said at a Salem Public Arts Commission meeting on Nov. 13.
The sign was most recently hit around April and then sat dented for seven months, with the brick wall behind it broken into pieces. This time, fixing it would have cost around $40,000.
The city plans to reconnect electricity and irrigation at the site, then add soil to support the remaining dirt and landscaping, according to city spokesman Trevor Smith.
He said Public Works will present ideas for replacing the sign to the public arts commission in early 2025.
The commission will then provide feedback on how the city can make the new sign “something that is artful and beautiful to look at,” Swarm said at the recent meeting.
She said that Public Works has a number of options for signs which can be replaced “at a very economic price.”
The commission has only been briefed on the demolition and not on any new designs for the sign, according Vice-Chair Susan Napack, who is slated to take over as chair early next year.
Since 2021, the sign has been struck at least once a year. The repair cost has escalated each time, Smith recently told Salem Reporter.
“There has been no official determination for why the sign is frequently damaged,” he said.
A landscaping crew reported the most recent damage in April. Officials have no information about the cause but assume it was a car crash, according to Smith.
The sign at the time was already awaiting repairs from a summer 2023 crash.
Fixing the most recent damage has been delayed because the city has struggled to find sufficient funding for the frequent repairs, according to Smith.
The sign was built in 1994, a project of the Gateway Sign Committee formed by Salem Mayor R. G. Andersen-Wyckoff.
It was paid for partly by $5,000 grants from the cities of Salem and Keizer, with remaining funding coming from public donations and volunteer time contributions.
The frequent damage to the sign began a year after it was built.
Fixing the sign has been Salem’s responsibility because it’s within city limits, but Keizer provides electricity for the property. The repairs have typically been paid for by Salem’s transportation fund, which is mostly funded through state gas taxes.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
