PORTLAND, Ore. — More graffiti is popping up around Portland highways, leaving drivers unsure of what exit they're taking. This has been an ongoing issue for years, but some Portlanders say it's getting much worse.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) announced last month that they had run out of money for graffiti removal. The Oregon Legislature authorized a one-time allocation of $1 million in the 2021-2023 biennium for ODOT to address the graffiti problem in partnership with the city. In early 2022, ODOT put a total of $2 million toward contractors tasked with removing graffiti.
"As of July 1, we no longer have funds dedicated to tackling graffiti," ODOT spokesman David House told KGW at the time. "People in the Portland area will see more graffiti."
Taggers are taking advantage of that fact. They're spraying highway signs along I-405, I-205 and I-84. So who is going to clean it up?
"It's our crews ... that are addressing the maintenance issues around the area, and that means the graffiti clean-up," said ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton. "ODOT funding is getting less and less, and that means we have less money to take care of the graffiti issues around the Portland area."
But the clean-up is not as easy as it seems. Hamilton says it's a lengthy process and takes time away from crews working on other projects around the city.
"The more that they’re out there cleaning up the signs the less they have for other work; that means guardrail repairs, that means potholes, that means fixing the roads, that means landscaping out there,” said Hamilton. “It’s a complicated process to clean up these signs. It’s about funding, it’s about the time for our crews and it’s about highway control. We have to close down traffic for a while as we get those signs cleared.”
While out shooting this story KGW came across someone who was tagging a Portland bridge. So we asked him why people target highway signs. Here’s what he shared.
“You know, you think about the amount of traffic that travels,” said the man, who wanted to remain unnamed. “There’s going to be a lot of people looking at that. So if a tagger wants to get his name out there I’d imagine if that’s a pretty good way.”
The man went on to say that taggers don’t view what they’re doing as destroying public property but rather view it as a way to share what many consider part of their artistic freedom.
But in Hamilton’s eyes, all this does is put a dent in other projects maintenance crews also have on their hands.
"We are doing everything we can with the resources that we have," said Hamilton.