page_title: Virginia Department of Transportation
section_title: Roadside memorials
hierarchical_section_title: Virginia Department of Transportation / Controversies / Roadside memorials
caption_attribution_description: English: Roadside memorial for Anthony "Tony" Potter on east side of Route 250 on where Blue Ridge Parkway crosses.
context_page_description: The Virginia Department of Transportation is the agency of the state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. VDOT is headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Building in downtown Richmond. VDOT is responsible for building, maintaining, and operating the roads, bridges, and tunnels in the commonwealth. It is overseen by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which has the power to fund airports, seaports, rail, and public transportation.
  VDOT's revised annual budget for fiscal year 2019 is $5.4 billion.
  VDOT has a workforce of about 7,500 full-time employees.
context_section_description: Spontaneous roadside memorials, often in the form of white crosses, Stars of David, bouquets of flowers, and photos of the dead, have been placed along roads at the scenes of fatal accidents.  As of July 1, 2003, Virginia law has banned these memorials.  Transportation officials have deemed them a threat to the safety of motorists.
  Virginia law §33.2-216 prohibits any person from installing a memorial on any highway controlled by the VDOT without a permit. VDOT will install a roadside memorial sign, normally for a period of two years. The sign may not deviate from the standard roadside memorial sign specifications. The cost must by paid by the person requesting the sign.
  Not everyone agreed with the new program. Vowing to ignore the program, Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), whose son was killed in an auto accident along Interstate 81 in November 2001, said:
  This is the bureaucratization of love. I don't like it one bit. I intend to put a cross up for my son. Period.
  By marking an accident site, survivors create "a living memory of this person's life," said Donna Schuurman, president of Association for Death Education and Counseling. Americans have swept the grieving process under the rug, and now it's popping up in public ways that few expected—and that some don't like, according to Ms. Schuurman.
caption: VDOT roadside memorial sign
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