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<\/p>\nA southeastern PA landmark is now set for demolition – but not anytime soon.<\/p>\n
BERKS COUNTY, Pa. \u2014 In today’s Hidden History, we take you to Graffiti Bridge in Ontelaunee Township, Berks County.<\/p>\n
Over the years, this abandoned crossing has become a popular spot for talented street artists. It’s also attracted other types of tagging that are far from family-friendly \u2014 a big reason officials are planning to tear it down.<\/p>\n
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Built in the late 1920s and overlooking Lake Ontelaunee in northern Berks County, the bridge has been closed to cars and trucks for the better part of three decades. But it’s remained open to hikers, anglers \u2014 and artists. Well, that last part might be best left to the eye of the beholder.<\/p>\n
How the community feels about the bridge really is a matter of perspective. Some who visit call it a work of art that deserves to be preserved. Others say it’s nothing more than vandalism.<\/p>\n
We ran into Jim Gierchick, who decided to stop by, light up a cigar, and see the bridge for the first time.<\/p>\n
“There are definitely things that are artistic, no question,” Gierchick said.<\/p>\n
But the impressive stencil work is often overshadowed by obscenities and vulgar images.<\/p>\n
“Those people \u2014 they are not artists. I don’t know what they are \u2014 that feel the need to do that every couple feet,” Gierchick said.<\/p>\n
That’s one reason, along with the bridge’s deteriorating condition, that officials have made the decision to tear it down.<\/p>\n
So while the clock is ticking on this concrete canvas, it’ll keep serving up color and controversy before the bridge officially runs out of road.<\/p>\n
A PennDOT official confirmed to us that there are plans to demolish the bridge, but did not have exact details on a timetable \u2014 only saying it could be several years out. So there’s still time to see the bridge, if you’d like to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A southeastern PA landmark is now set for demolition – but not anytime soon. BERKS COUNTY, Pa. \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-283020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}