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Unfinished bridge tagged with graffiti
Published November 15, 2006
The new Holdsworth Drive bridge over Town
Creek was tagged with spray paint for the second time this week,
leaving project contractors looking for a way to stop the
graffiti.
“If we don’t do something, we’re going to have this whole bridge
tagged before it’s all over with,” said Lonnie Williams, project
manager for the Texas Department of Transportation.
The ongoing, $12.7-million project to extend Holdsworth Drive
1.8 miles from Sidney Baker Street to Harper Road includes the
new bridge over Town Creek. It is expected to be complete in
January 2008.
Workers at the bridge construction site arrived Monday morning
to find graffiti under the bridge where it crosses Town Creek
Road. That graffiti was covered by the city, but Tuesday workers
found more.
“I don’t know if there’s a good resolution to this or not,”
Williams said. “Unless we can catch them.”
Graffiti is a misdemeanor unless the damage is more than $1,500.
Kerrville Police Lt. Joe Lanning said the damage Monday was less
than $500. He said graffiti is a sporadic problem in Kerrville
and usually is found at the Sidney Baker bridge that spans over
Louise Hays Park or at the culverts near the B.T. Wilson Sixth
Grade campus.
“It just kind of comes in spurts,” Lanning said.
Mike Coward, area engineer for TxDOT, said the state has used a
graffiti coating that goes over concrete, on picnic tables and
other places that makes removing the spray paint easier.
However, he said it is expensive — about $300 for five gallons.
“Fortunately, we don’t have a huge problem with graffiti in Kerr
County, at least not in areas that are visible to the public,”
Coward said.
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