An image of a Maryland highway sign with some serious advice relating to Donald Trump’s inauguration made the rounds on the web yesterday and this morning.
Somebody produced a very realistic (and funny) image of a sign on I-270 yesterday that read, “INAUGURATION JAN 20/EXPECT DELAYS/CONSIDER CANADA.” Twitter user @michelle_sagan was among the first to tweet the image. Her post was retweeted tens of thousands of times within less than a day. It also appeared on Instagram and Facebook.
Marylanders preparing for #Inauguration weekend with a pinch of humor pic.twitter.com/ycraW6jp5R
— michelle (@michelle_sagan) January 19, 2017
However, as the Sun’s Scott Dance first reported, state officials say it was a fake. The State Highway Administration said it never actually transmitted that final advisory line to display on the lighted board.
“It was a hoax,” an SHA spokesman confirmed to Baltimore Fishbowl. “We don’t know how that happened, but we just confirmed that it was definitely a hoax.”
Just to be sure, the spokesman said the agency sent workers to examine the actual sign, located on northbound I-270 before Exit 4 in Rockville. What it actually offered was a message for local commuters: “CONSIDER METRO.”
Traffic is going smoothly, but still consider using Metro. Here is I-270 near Montrose https://t.co/bYtavkHSXG #mdotnews pic.twitter.com/ScwFTzmobj
— MD State Highway Adm (@MDSHA) January 20, 2017
As you can see, the sign wasn’t that far off, save for that one final word.
