Cleaning up graffiti in the downtown area is a focus of staff from the Missouri Department of Transportation with support from the City of Kansas City. Recently, MoDOT crews began removing graffiti on Interstate 35 south along Southwest Boulevard in its first effort to clean up the downtown loop over the next few weeks. This will be the first of many efforts in the downtown highway system.
“We are working to clean up our great city not only for all our civic pride, but in anticipation of several major downtown events coming soon,” said MoDOT KC District Engineer Chris Redline. “We want to clean it and keep it that way, but we need the public’s help.”
Graffiti on public property is illegal, unsafe and doesn’t reflect well on Kansas City. Graffiti appears all over on places like walls, columns, signs, and other areas. Removing graffiti is an expensive and arduous process involving staff time for multiple employees, physical resources and equipment, and traffic impacts to the public when work zones are set up to complete the jobs. Costs can lead into the thousands when all work is complete.
Both the city and MoDOT are asking the public to help curb this illegal activity and contact the Kansas City Police Department at 816-234-5111 when they see anyone defacing downtown public property, whether it’s city or state owned.
“This is time and money we could be using elsewhere on our system,” Redline said. “We support prosecution in matters like this because taxpayer money is used to remove graffiti. And it’s not only expensive to remove, but restitution costs for anyone caught could be extremely high.”
Safety is also a concern for everyone involved. “Many times, vandals put themselves in danger by operating close to traffic, high on a wall or structure,” Redline explained. “These same difficult spots cause similar concerns for our employees when they work to remove graffiti.”
Cleaning graffiti is just one thing MoDOT is focusing on to improve KC – other efforts include sweeping barriers, brush control and trimming, and litter pickup. The department contracted with an external company to begin picking up litter beginning in June 2022 on 40 miles of interstates in the urban Kansas City area. By the end of 2022, 73 tons of litter (11,000 bags) have been removed.
Motorists are reminded to slow down and pay attention while driving in work zones. Not all work zones look alike. Work zones can be moving operations, such as striping, patching or mowing. They can also be short-term, temporary lane closures to make quick repairs or remove debris from the roadway.
For more information about MoDOT news, projects, or events, visit our website at www.modot.org/kansascity. For instant updates, follow MoDOT_KC on Twitter, or on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MoDOT.KansasCity/. MoDOT Kansas City maintains more than 7,000 miles of state roadway in nine counties. Sign up online for work zone updates or call 888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636).