Graffiti is a common sight under the University Bridge, especially in the area across from the “Wall of Death.” The city tells us taggers hit the underbelly of the bridge just about every weekend. Crews try to clean up the mess left behind once or twice a month but nothing seems to stop it. One of our readers Robby (who took the picture above as crews cleaned up the bridge recently) asked if the city might consider putting up a mural to deter vandals. We asked SDOT, and here’s the answer:
We have not considered installing a mural under the University Bridge. Murals by themselves are not sufficient deterrents to graffiti and often end up tagged. This area also has an art installation so we would need the consent of the city’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs before creating a mural.
SDOT also tells us that they work through the Department of Neighborhoods to facilitate mural requests submitted by private groups. You’d need a permit for the mural and have to commit to maintaining the art work.
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5 reader comments so far ↓
1 Boeing Babe // Jun 18, 2010 at 10:07 am
Years ago there was a dude tagging “Buddy Holly Lives” on the overpasses at WoodlandPark, crossing Aurora. The Zoo resorted to a grey paint that does not let the tags adhere, allsoing them to be removed by a hose and water. I know it was expensive, but why is it not used more often?
2 Norm // Jun 19, 2010 at 2:34 pm
If the mural under the 99 overpass at N63rd is any indication, then the answer sadly is no. The solution to taggers is beat cops to catch them and enough community service. preferably hard work in the elements, that they’ll think twice before doing it again.
Despite not stopping the scumbag taggers a mural would certainly look nice.
3 Robby Delaware // Jun 19, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Norm, I lived in the U-District when the mural on Campus Parkway was put in. This is the mural that runs the length of the North wall, from the edge on Condon Hall to nearly the crane statue.
While there has been some, limited, defacement of this group of murals, it has for the most part acted a deterrent to additional vandalism. It has also made the entire area seem much safer, especially at night.
That’s why I was thinking here, and considering that the city has to keep spending money to send clean up crews here on a regular basis, you’d think that a mural could pay for itself pretty quickly.
Perhaps it could be a student project of the UW Art department?
4 Laszlo Toth, Jr // Jun 25, 2010 at 6:01 pm
“The city tells us taggers hit the underbelly of the bridge just about every weekend. Crews try to clean up the mess left behind once or twice a month but nothing seems to stop it.”
Well, there’s your problem. The way you stop tagging is, you have someone whose job it is to paint it over every day, at random intervals.
The main point is, it gets fairly futile to tag something when your tag doesn’t last longer than 24 hours.
“Once or twice a month,” just doesn’t cut it.
5 Clean it up? // Jun 27, 2010 at 11:16 pm
So where would you like the money to come from for somebody to paint over the graffiti every other day? With the city’s budget the way that it is, I say leave the darn graffiti under the bridge and take care of other more important items that the city needs to deal with first.
Just my opinion.