Judge sets deadline for road sign removal in monument

A federal judge has given Kane County until Monday to take down more than 30 road signs it has placed on hundreds of routes into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, declaring the roads open to off-road vehicles.

U.S. District Judge Tina Campbell issued an order Friday to give county officials until Monday to remove the signs. She also denied a motion by the county to leave the signs up while they appeal her order to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kane County also is barred by court order from adopting ordinances or posting any signs that declare the inlets as open for off-road vehicle use. The order comes after Campbell ruled last May that the road signs were unconstitutional.

The decisions come after a long-running legal fight between county officials and the federal government over off-road vehicle use at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The county claimed a right-of-way use to the roads under a Civil War-era mining law.