New Gold Line Bridge in Arcadia defaced with graffiti

ARCADIA -- The new $18.6 million Gold Line Bridge, designed as a piece of public art, was defaced with significant graffiti over the weekend and the cleanup could force an eastbound lane closure at least one night early next week.
Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority officials said Wednesday that the bridge's southernmost abutment and part of the basket structure atop it have been tagged. The long wall leading from the bridge has also been significantly defaced with black letters and drawings.
The 584-foot-long bridge, which was completed about four months ago, is the most visible element of the 11.5-mile Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension light-rail project from Pasadena to Azusa, as well as the largest single public art/transit infrastructure project in the state, according to Gold Line Construction Authority officials.
"It's disappointing that people are obviously willing to deface public property, but we anticipated that it might happen," Lisa Levy Buch, a spokeswoman for the authority, said Wednesday. "The structure has a graffiti coating to make it easier to remove graffiti. "
Buch, who said the construction authority is working with police, estimated the cleanup costs, including closure of the freeway's eastbound slow lane, at somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000.
The closure, which might start as early as Monday depending on Caltrans approval, could take up
to two nights as crews may add additional graffiti coating on the structure, Buch said. Patrick Chandler, a Caltrans spokesman, said such freeway lane closures typically take place between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Construction Authority officials are also discussing ways they can deter taggers in the future either with cameras or other means, Buch said.
The Foothill Extension project has also had probably a few thousand dollars worth of materials and equipment stolen from a few points along the light-rail corridor, Buch said, including from the maintenance and operations facility in Monrovia.
"The construction site itself is not completely fenced it, so these things do happen," she said.
"It's just something we anticipate in the contract" with the builder, Buch added.
Arcadia Mayor Bob Harbicht, who had yet to see the graffiti, called the news of the tagging "terrible. "
"I would have thought they would have had some respect for what is really a piece of art," he said. "I never understood graffiti in the first place, what they got out of it, but to deface a work of art is beyond what I would imagine. "
The bridge, which is anchored by two 25-foot structures made to resemble Native American baskets, was designed by artist Andrew Leicester.