Locals lash authority over graffiti on Charles Grimes Bridge

Protective barriers along Charles Grimes Bridge have become a notorious hotspot for graffiti over the years and locals peering over the road every day from Yarra’s Edge have slammed the slow response by the responsible authority in keeping the area clean.

VicRoads (Department of Transport and Planning), the authority responsible for managing the bridge, has come under fire from local residents who say their continuous reporting of graffiti continues to go unnoticed.

Lorimer St resident and building manager David Morgan said he alone reported recent graffiti to VicRoads in February as well as a further three times since.

“No action to clear the graffiti has been taken since the matter was initially reported more than four months ago,” he said.

The graffiti is unsightly to residents in the Yarra’s Edge area and also to visitors and tourists who use the bridge as a thoroughfare to the CBD.

In response to a series of questions posed by Docklands News, a spokesperson for the Department of Transport and Planning said it prioritised the removal of any graffiti that was offensive, racist or that put other road users at risk.

“Vandalism and graffiti remain an ongoing challenge and we understand it can be frustrating for the community,” the spokesperson said.

“We encourage anyone who witnesses vandalism on our roads or public transport network to report it to police.”

However, the spokesperson did not indicate when current graffiti was expected to be removed, or its average response times to cleaning the bridge.

While the City of Melbourne is not the responsible authority for the bridge, a spokesperson said it had also raised graffiti issues with VicRoads as a service request.

The council has invested a considerable number of resources into keeping the city clean in recent years, with its current budget alone including more than $36 million for street cleaning and graffiti removal. •