By Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Drivers who take I-95 through northeast Philadelphia may have noticed a peculiar sight on some overhead signs. The signs are peeling, creating a two-tone backdrop for the lettering and directional symbols.

Of the hundreds of signs along area interstates, the problem appears to be limited to half a dozen signs in a two-mile-or-so stretch near Woodhaven Road. Why just these signs?

“Well, that’s a good question.” PennDOT spokesman Gene Blaum says it’s a mystery, “our department staff met with the company that produces these signs to see if there was anything unusual from a production standpoint that would be causing the green background to be peeling and everything was done according to specification, so it’s not as if an usual product was used or some other type of situation may have occurred during the production of these signs.”

Blaum says PennDOT will replace the signs, as soon as it has the money to do so — an estimated $150,000.

In the meantime, he says, the signs are still legible, “the signs may not be attractive but they’re functioning properly.”