A statue of  Junipero Serra stands on a hilltop above Interstate 280 in Hillsborough, Calif. 

For 50 years, a massive 26-foot-tall statue of Junipero Serra watched over motorists along Interstate 280 at the Crystal Springs rest stop in Hillsborough. But now the iconic concrete statue is no more after it was removed by Caltrans this summer. 

“The installation did not meet current Transportation Art Program requirements and had been a frequent target of graffiti and vandalism,” Jeneane Crawford, a spokesperson for Caltrans District 4, told SFGATE in an email.

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The statue’s removal in August alongside the freeway that’s also named for Serra attracted little attention initially. But in recent weeks, social media users have wondered where it went.

Caltrans said that the statue had been “evaluated for eligibility in the California Register of Historical........

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