Legal Question in Traffic Law in Washington

Re: Is it illegal to pick up already removed streetsigns?

Attorney Lustick is correct and you have no right to keep this sign. This is not a question of traffic law, it is a question of property law. You shoul dfollow his advice.

Re: Is it illegal to pick up already removed streetsigns?

You're probably not going to want to hear this, but here goes. Road signs produced by the state, a county, or a city are public property. While there may be no way of telling who owns this �no parking� sign, I think it�s safe to assume that the sign is government-owned property. In general, no one may lay claim to publicly owned or governmental property unless the item is specifically granted to you. That is, you must buy the item or have someone with authority give it to you. Even if this sign was laying alongside the road, you have no right to take it. In fact, under R.C.W. 47.36.130, your removal of this sign � even if it was not in use � could be considered criminal. My recommendation is that you take the sign you found to the street department in the nearest city or your county�s road department and turn it in. If you really want this sign, you can ask whoever is working there if it�s okay with them for you to keep it.