Portland Metro Freeway/Highway/Roads News and Discussions

[sopdx]

I take 405 often as I live in NW Portland. The graffiti on the signage seems like it has been there for years. The cross-hatching idiot's work mars almost every sign.
ODOT has done nothing. I read once - probably a year ago- that they have sign replacements on a schedule. I'm not sure if that is the reason the graffiti remains.

While I'm on my Saturday morning tirade - the corner of SW 14th and W. Burnside across from the Crystal Ballroom - is disgusting. Encampments with trash everywhere. Occasionally it is cleaned although the mess appears a few days later. It's a very prominent spot. I have no idea why they (whoever is responsible) don't put a barricade or boulders - unsightly in their own right but better than what exists now.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by mhays

I'd omit Strike 3 and cut 1 and 2 somewhat, but you're on the right track.

We can't just give up and let the scum dominate.

We have a problem in Seattle too though it seems less than Portland. I've lived in urban neighborhoods most of my life and will never accept or get used to this aspect. It doesn't have to be anything like the Covid-era level.

Apparently the Portland police cut their anti graffiti squad almost 10 years ago (although they seem to be focusing on catching the prolific taggers lately). Add to that the fact that ODOT basically has done nothing in the last year due to lack of funds… So we will likely see an improvement in the coming months with the state’s $20 million funding… but the highway dept needs a dedicated, consistent way of dealing with his, enough so that taggers just give up. If they shut down the hard hit freeways for a few weekend nights and just cover everything up, then keep after it every couple weeks it’ll photo likely never get this bad again. Not rocket science.

[subterranean]

Maybe akin to volunteer fire fighters we could deputize a squad of Fortnite kids with dart guns.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by sopdx

I take 405 often as I live in NW Portland. The graffiti on the signage seems like it has been there for years. The cross-hatching idiot's work mars almost every sign.
ODOT has done nothing. I read once - probably a year ago- that they have sign replacements on a schedule. I'm not sure if that is the reason the graffiti remains.

While I'm on my Saturday morning tirade - the corner of SW 14th and W. Burnside across from the Crystal Ballroom - is disgusting. Encampments with trash everywhere. Occasionally it is cleaned although the mess appears a few days later. It's a very prominent spot. I have no idea why they (whoever is responsible) don't put a barricade or boulders - unsightly in their own right but better than what exists now.

Re: the tagged signs, I heard they might be replacing them with ones that have a coating that makes it easier to just scrub the graffiti off.

Re: the camp site -- this isn't a cure-all but have you reported these before? The PdxReporter site is a great place to do that, along with graffiti, abandoned vehicles etc. They recently created a dashboard for camp site reports with photos of progress, showing when they put up "illegal camp" warnings and when it is cleaned, often including before and after images. Wonder if that corner falls under city ownership or ODOT, who seems pretty willing to do the boulder thing. It think a little further north on 14th, next to NB 405 ramps there are boulders.

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