this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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I seriously doubt it. Generally each city has their own sign-making department, if it's interstates, it's the state DOT doing it. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to sell signs that replicate them faithfully enough (including the reflective layer) to be swapped out - for exactly this reason. Otherwise this would happen all the time.
You can buy replicas of signs but they are usually a lot thinner aluminum and don't have the same layered reflective coating, and probably noticeably smaller too. That said, it is possible to buy the sign-making equipment and produce your own, if you were really so motivated, but now we're talking way more than a traffic ticket.
So just go take the sign down, so much simpler. Doubt they'd notice for a months or years, and when they replace it, just take it down again.
Any department of transportation isn't going to have their own print department, as far as I know. They contract out print jobs like that since the equipment and expertise to produce at scale are prohibitively expensive for just one client. As I've seen, that kind of job uses laser-etched plates on rollers with different plates for each colour. Pantone inks, probably. So they need the laser machine, a printer the size of a small apartment, the licensing, and all the materials, just for signs.
The reflective coating is just a simple laminated layer.
Source: Worked at a printers and toured a couple screenprinting shops who had contracts with the city. We'd print anything as long as someone paid and sent the correct filetype.