The hidden VDOT shop in Chesterfield making Virginia's road signs
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A Midlothian sign awaiting pickup. This one was done by hand! Photo: Sabrina Moreno/Axios
When a tractor-trailer on Interstate 64 took down overhead highway signs in Henrico a few years ago, Marshall Martin's phone rang almost immediately.
- "Get ready," he recalled being told. "Bad accident."
- Martin already had the replacement signs underway before crews finished clearing the wreckage.
Why it matters: Martin manages the Virginia Department of Transportation's only sign maintenance shop, where a team of 16 in Chesterfield builds about 100,000 signs each year for the state's roads.
The big picture: It's the kind of work drivers rarely think about until a stop sign goes missing, a detour appears, or a green highway sign gets a dump truck beating that snarls morning traffic.
- But once a road enters VDOT's maintenance program, it's Martin's team that transforms giant sheets of aluminum into everything from route markers to the legendary "Welcome to Virginia" signs that greet travelers at the state line.
- And they're also behind the emergency detour signage that keeps traffic moving after hurricanes, landslides and other major disruptions — all from a warehouse tucked inside a VDOT complex off Route 1.
How it works: Orders come in from VDOT districts statewide. Then rolls of reflective sheeting are pressed onto metal blanks before workers either apply lettering by hand or use large-format printers and precision cutters to speed production.
- Routine orders are typically completed within 30 days, Martin told Axios.
- But when major crashes or other emergencies strike, his team can pivot production and have replacement signs within a day or weekend.
- By 7:30am, VDOT trucks from every corner of the state start arriving to haul the finished signs from Chesterfield to roads across Virginia.
Zoom in: For Martin, one of the best parts of the job comes after the signs leave the building.
- "How many other people can say or see their job every day out on the roads of where you're traveling, and then your family, your friends and loved ones all see it?" Martin said.
- "You're able to say, 'Hey, you know you only got 10 more miles and then you're home because of a sign we built for you.'"
Plus: The people making them either grew up here or live here, Martin said.
- "They're your neighbors."
