Before removal, graffiti lined the concrete walls along I-84 in Northeast Portland.

Graffiti and litter increased dramatically over the last few years. If you’ve traveled around the state lately, you’ll see that it’s widespread across Oregon. But it’s particularly bad in the Portland area.

This challenge is especially acute along ODOT highways and property. ODOT properties, due to their proximity to high-speed traffic, are often dangerous and difficult locations to clean.

They are also dangerous for the taggers and campers who venture, unsafely, onto or immediately adjacent to them.

The Oregon Legislature and Gov. Tina Kotek understand the severity of this problem. In their 2024 session, lawmakers allocated $20 million from the general fund to improve the health, safety, and livability of the Portland metro region by increasing litter, graffiti, and unsafe camp cleanup.

This new funding is already making a real difference. It’s nearly tripled the amount of funding available for camp cleanup on ODOT properties and is paying for fencing and barriers in high-priority locations that will protect pedestrians and campers as well as safeguard the highway infrastructure.

The $20 million is allocated to:• $4 million for graffiti removal. This has allowed us to hire a contractor to paint over graffiti on walls, bridges, signs, poles, signals, signal cabinets and other ODOT features that get tagged, and allows us to replace highway guide signs damaged by graffiti.

• $4 million for camp cleanup. These funds allow the City of Portland to nearly triple service levels on ODOT property in the city through June 30, 2025. Removing camps along the ODOT right-of-way improves safety and reduces the amount of litter on ODOT facilities.

• $4 million for litter removal. This has allowed us to hire a contractor and use our maintenance crews to expand our litter removal program. The contractor patrols each section of highway in the metro area weekly to determine where to send crews, prioritizing the worst areas first.

• $8 million for fencing and barriers. We plan to install reinforced fencing and barriers to deter unsafe access and protect bridges, retaining walls and multiuse paths from illegal camping. Seventy percent of pedestrians killed by cars in Portland in 2021 were experiencing homelessness. The protective fencing limits camper exposure to high-speed roadways.

We’re already seeing a huge impact from this funding. Through May 31, we collected 17,760 pounds of trash, removed 3,831 tags and cleaned up 206 camps.

We have limited resources available for maintenance and without this specific additional funding, prioritizing site cleanup and restoration takes staff and funding away from other activities, among them responding to incidents and storms and safety measures like striping and clearing roads of debris. This level of funding allows us to hire contractors and to do more work the public wants us to do and that we ourselves want to do as well.

Together, ODOT and its partners are improving livability, safety, and health conditions, for residents, visitors, and businesses across the region.