Graffitied sign costs taxpayers $5,000

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Graffiti sprayed on the truss over the Scajaquada Expressway has stayed there for a year.

The vandal who made the high risk move has created a headache from crews who want to clean it up. Officials will have to shut down two lanes in order to remove the entire sign. The cost to taxpayers is around $5,000.

RELATED | News 4 reported on the tagging of the sign last February

Susan Surdej of the NYS Department of Transportation said, "There's a lot more that goes into this than people actually realize when you're driving under a sign structure."

Surdej says crews typically take care of the problem immediately, but the sign in question was scheduled to be replaced, along with many others around western New York, long before the tagger took artistic liberty.

"Sometimes we would use a latex paint and we could paint over the back of the sign, we would use sand blasting if it were over a concrete bridge abutment or something to that nature, but graffiti is definitely a problem," Surdej said.

Surdej says the signs will likely be replaced by the summer, by an independent contractor.