IDOT struggles to keep up with graffiti on Chicago area expressways
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago's graffiti problem is growing, and is visible to drivers every day on the expressways – including the on the recently-finished Jane Byrne Interchange.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported Thursday night, Illinois state officials say they are having trouble keeping up with the taggers.
Anyone driving into downtown Chicago can't afford traffic – and now they're not enjoying the visual experience while stuck in traffic either.
"I don't understand why it's gotten so bad," said Tony Salvino.
Graffiti has become the new welcome sign to people at the Jane Byrne Interchange where the Kennedy, Dan Ryan, and Eisenhower expressways meet. Salvino takes the Edens to the Kennedy daily.
"Every day going in and going out, the graffiti compounds," Salvino said. "It's getting worse. It's an insult to our city."
We first spotted the growing graffiti issues back in 2020. At that time, the interchange was still under construction – so maybe that could explain the extensive tagging.
Yet three years later, the new concrete walls are still getting sprayed – sometimes from the middle of the expressway.
"It does not make Chicago look very good at all," Salvino said.
Now, the Illinois Department of Transportation says when graffiti pops up in the middle of a construction zone, there are times they can't get to it because it's too dangerous to remove. But remember, the taggers themselves are getting up there.
So IDOT says they will have to wait until the construction is over. But so much of what we're seeing along the Jane Byrne Interchange and other interstates is in plain view.
"A lot of these pieces take time to do. It's not like they're whipping in and getting out. There's shading, there's grading, and color," said Salvino. "I'm like, how long are they taking to do this, and nobody is busting them?"
IDOT told CBS 2, "Graffiti removal is an ongoing problem, and something we are working hard to address."
The department said often when they do remove the graffiti, it pops back up I hours.
The state says they are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to remove graffiti. Yet the eyesores are becoming more elaborate.
"The angles that they're getting at - I want to know what time they're doing it at; how they're getting on those angles leaning over," Salvino said.
We know IDOT has cameras along the expressways, but it's not clear if those are being used to catch the taggers.
But IDOT did tell us: "IDOT and the City of Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation perform a massive graffiti removal effort just before major holidays and we will be performing another one around the upcoming Fourth of July holiday."
But what will it take really to combat this problem?
"I think the State Police, somebody's got to get involved," Salvino said.