‘Peace’ buttons on bridge provoke anxiety, road closure

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – In one North Carolina city, authorities decided it might be too dangerous to give peace a chance.

News outlets report Interstate 240 in Asheville and a bridge over it were closed for about 10 minutes Thursday while police removed two round button-like objects reading “peace” from underneath the bridge.

About 1 foot (0.3 metres) across, the objects were made of a Styrofoam-like material, painted red and grey, and attached with magnets to the steel beams underneath the bridge on the northbound and southbound spans.

The Citizen-Times quotes Lt. Joseph Sorrells as saying authorities assumed the objects didn’t pose a threat, but they shut down traffic “to err on the side of caution.” He said the objects were harmless.

The road closures caused significant backups on I-240, and a preschool was placed on lockdown.