State officials hoped iconic Potomac Mills sign would fall on its own

WOODBRIDGE — After high winds damaged the iconic Potomac Mills sign, state officials hoped it would fall on its own.

Damaged by high wind gusts of 60 mph or more on Friday, March 2, the 140-sign along Interstate 95 south in Woodbridge noting the location of the massive shopping complex began to lean. It forced the closure of a portion of the highway for two and a half days.

The sign was eventually brought down on Sunday, March 6 when crews tied ropes to the sign structure and pulled it down, snapping it in two.

Newly obtained records show a quickly coordinated response state transportation officials who scrambled to close the highway as a safety precaution in case the sign fell.

Crews were unable to get into a bucket truck to remove the sign due to continued high winds. So, according to an email, Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner Stephen Birch told State Transportation Secretary Shannon Valentine they were waiting for the sign to fall.

“The Plan B right now is to let the sign fall. Hopefully, the wind will push it over and let the steel yield fracture fail and bring the sign down on its own volition, not ours,” Birch told Valentine in a voicemail message on Saturday, March 2.

With the weather working against them, and with officials wanting to avoid the portion of I-95 being closed during the Monday morning commute, they decided to pull the sign down on Sunday.

Traffic on I-95 south was diverted onto the E-ZPass Express Lanes during the highway closure. The tolls were suspended for the weekend

This could have resulted in a “compensation event” for the state, where taxpayers would be on the hook to pay back the lost revenue toll lanes operator Transurban would have made.

However, that is not the case here.

Transurban spokesman Mike McGurk told Potomac Local in an email:

“Transurban commends the Virginia Department of Transportation for its work to ensure the safety of travelers on I-95 throughout the incident. As a partner to the Department, we were pleased to offer our support to safeguard drivers and maintain regional mobility options. We will not pursue payment from VDOT under the terms of a compensation event.”

An active sign permit remains on file at the Prince William County Planning and Zoning office should the mall want to erect a new sign. The mall had no comment when we asked if it had plans to restore the iconic structure.