Roadside Memorials Taken Down in Wyoming

"In a small storage shed tucked behind a highway maintenance facility in Wyoming, dozens of monuments to the state's dead motorists lie stacked against one another like discarded props from an old movie set waiting to be used again.

Some are made from wood, others from steel bars or wire, but all the memorials are vestiges of a new statewide effort to remove them from public roads.

'I think they would make a remarkable art exhibit,' said Ross Doman, a public liaison officer for the State Department of Transportation, running his hands over a large wooden cross bearing the name of Monte Robbins, who was killed nearly a decade ago on an interstate highway east of Laramie."

"No U.S. law specifically addresses roadside memorials, and policies differ by state. In Wyoming, officials decided to allow structures that were put up before 2003 to remain standing for five additional years, a period that ended in April. On Oct. 3, workers fanned out across the state to remove the nearly 300 remaining memorials from roadsides and highway medians.

So far, only 16 of the removed memorials have been claimed. The rest are stored at Transportation Department offices around the state."