Transportation News, Volume 19, Number 8, April 1994 Page: 1
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Transportation
Town honors 'Boy
The Waco District
has a "new" town
that put a football
star on the map.
Blue-and-white
signs marking the
city limits of "Troy
Aikman, Texas" went
up on Interstate 35 in
mid-November. Troy,
a town of about 1,400
between Waco and
Temple, had officially
changed its name to
"Troy Aikman" the
month before.
The signs, which
featured football hel-
mets and the Cow-
boys logo, were to:
remain in place until -lr "
the end of the foot-
ball season. At that - -
time, the city's name
would revert to Troy, -- -
and department
crews would remove r- C=
the signs and return --"
them to the city
Everything went
according to plan-
until the early hours
of Super Bowl Sun- +
day, when an over:- r;- j
enthusiastic Cow- -
boys fan stole the
sign on the north
side of town. - k-
"We were afraid
something like that -
would happen," said
City Manager Ellis
Prince, who added -' ' ~~
that the sign had
generated a lot of
interest in the com-
munity. Throughout football season, motorists on 1-35, includ-
ing many from out of state, stopped to take pictures of the
signs.
As Super Bowl Sunday approached, interest in the commu-
nity and its unique name grew. "We had a lot of people call
asking if they could buy one of the signs," Prince said, "so it
didn't really surprise us to discover one of them missing." The
second sign was removed by department workers the morning
after the Super Bowl and returned to city hall.
The temporary name change came about after Jim Verdi, a
radio producer for KYGN-FM's "Dallas Young Country,"
noticed the community during a trip to Austin to cover the
Cowboys' training camp. He contacted city officials to suggest
that the town alter its name in honor of the Dallas quarterback.
Most citizens agreed, said Mayor Tom Vanderveer, and the cityA publication of the Texas Department of Transportation
with name change
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- - - . -"i -r -:. -- "-- i- -r - --'-- - - --council unanimously approved the change in October.
The signs were donated by Haywood Ware of Hall Sign, Inc.,
the company that makes other signs for the city
The department became Involved when the signs arrived in
November. Larry Colclasure, the district traffic engineer, want-
ed to ensure that the signs were installed correctly and safely.
Working with Jim Cowan, Bell County area engineer, and Deb-
bie Rogers, the Belton area maintenance supervisor, Colclasure
arranged for department crews to hang the signs at the city lim-
its on 1-35.
Rogers worked with Vanderveer and other city officials, and
suggested the unveiling be held at city hall on FM 935, rather
than the median of the busy Interstate. Though the town's
namesake was unable to attend, he sent word that he was hon-
ored by the action.
"We're thankful to the department for helping us in this pro-
ject," Vanderveer told the citizens and reporters attending the
unveiling, "We had a lot of fun with this. If it helps someone
notice us and leave the freeway to see our town, all the better."April 1994 Volume 19 Number 8
Bill Meyer, left,
and Willis Patton
of the Belton
Maintenance
Section, install
limit signs for the
Waco District's
newest city.Margaret Sanders
Waco DistrictC
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Texas. Department of Transportation. Transportation News, Volume 19, Number 8, April 1994, periodical, April 1994; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth576390/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.