Growing Vandalism Problem Under Wetumpka’s Bibb Graves Bridge, Residents Say

If you’re taking a stroll under the historic Bibb Graves Bridge near downtown Wetumpka,  its hard not to notice some of the colorful additions that Wetumpka residents are now calling eye sores.

Residents say graffiti under the bridge has become a growing problem that picked up within the last year.

“Its disappointing to see some of the things that are being drawn on the bridge” said downtown business owner Troy Stubbs pointing to several areas under the bridge where profanity or other disturbing messages have been etched. 

Stubbs says there have been some attempts by the City of Wetumpka to mark through or cover some of the more offensive graffiti with paint, but believes more needs to be done. “It’s not just cleaning it up, it’s solving the problem” he said “we’ve got to stop the vandalism, we’ve got to provide these youth with opportunities and to participate in art in other ways and we’re willing to do that”.

Better lighting and surveillance cameras are some of the proposed fixes to not only stop vandalism to areas of the bridge where it is already prevalent, but to also discourage vandals from defacing other parts of the bridge that are more dangerous to reach.

“They’re getting braver and braver about reaching out to some higher areas of the bridge” said Stubbs “we had a drowning in the river less than 2 months ago, so those are things to consider as well”.

Alabama News Network reached out to the city of Wetumpka for a response to the graffiti, and the efforts to discourage the vandalism on the bridge but had not yet received a response at the time this article was published.