Graffiti will be banished
Bridge over I-5 at Tulalip to be painted, closed off

By Krista J. Kapralos
Herald Writer






TULALIP - A railroad overpass that has been covered with graffiti for as long as some local residents can remember will soon be cleaned up for good, tribal officials said Monday.

"The graffiti has been an issue forever, but it's kind of a no-man's land as far as jurisdiction," said Steve Gobin, deputy general manager of Quil Ceda Village, the Tulalip Tribes' casino and retail complex.

The steel bridge spans I-5, just south of the 116th Street overpass. A wooden walkway is attached to the bridge's south edge, providing easy access for vandals with spray paint cans.

The tribes own the land on which the bridge is based on both sides of the freeway.

The bridge, which isn't currently in use, belongs to the tribes, but the state Department of Transportation has accepted responsibility for maintenance, Gobin said. The tribes don't have the expertise to work on the bridge while protecting the cars on the freeway beneath, he said.

The state plans to paint over the graffiti and remove the wooden walkway, state transportation spokesman Travis Phelps said.

The tribes will then close off both sides of the bridge, Gobin said.

That's splendid news for Washington State Patrol spokesman Kirk Rudeen. He said state troopers are concerned that a vandal will slip and fall from the bridge onto the freeway below. The bridge's graffiti gallery also could contribute to accidents, he said.

"(Drivers) may look up, and looking up distracts them from seeing a change in what other cars are doing," he said. "They may end up rear-ending somebody."

Once the work of local graffiti artists is stamped out, Marysville city officials plan to display a little artwork of their own.

"We'll put something up there that is symbolic of the (Tulalips) and Marysville working together," said Mary Swenson, the city's chief administrative officer.

It's not yet clear when the project will be finished, Gobin said. The tribes want to keep the bridge intact so that it can be transformed into a pedestrian walkway if a light rail or other mass transit station is built nearby, he said.

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.