MARYSVILLE – The steel railroad bridge may look new, but it’s not.
The bridge, which spans I-5 just south of the 116th Street NE interchange, is the same one that’s been covered with graffiti for as long as some nearby residents can remember.
Only now the tagging is smothered beneath a new layer of paint, courtesy of the Washington Department of Transportation.
Gone is a dangerous eyesore that Washington State Patrol troopers worried could distract drivers and cause accidents.
Troopers have also worried that a vandal might slip and fall from the bridge onto the freeway.
“We’re very happy,” trooper Kirk Rudeen said. “If we can remove any distractions, it’s a bonus. It’s the signs and stuff that we want drivers to pay attention to.”
Work crews with the Department of Transportation began repainting the railroad bridge early Saturday morning. They also removed a wooden catwalk from the side of the bridge that gave easy access to vandals.
The bridge, which isn’t currently in use, belongs to the Tulalip Tribes, but the state Department of Transportation accepted responsibility for the maintenance. The tribes don’t have the expertise to work on the bridge while protecting passing vehicles on the freeway below, Steve Gobin, deputy general manager of Quil Ceda Village, has said.
The tribes agreed to close off both sides of the bridge to make it more difficult for taggers to return there.
“That will make keeping this bridge graffiti-free much easier,” said Rick Rodda, a bridge engineer for the Department of Transportation.
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.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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