UPDATE: Centralia’s ‘Graffiti Highway’ is finally getting erased

The Graffiti Highway, that bizarre landmark at Centralia, is soon to be no more.

The Daily Item reports the abandoned stretch of Route 61 is to be buried by its private owner, Pagnotti Enterprises. The impending interment was confirmed by Tom Hynoski, the borough’s secretary, fire chief and EMA director.

Hynoski said Pagnotti, a coal company, plans to bury the roadway under truckloads of dirt this week. “They got sick of the complaints and the liability,” he told the news site. “People steal stuff, they spray paint in the cemetery, it’s about time something gets done.”

MORE: Centralia and the 'graffiti highway’ through the years: photos

The .74-mile stretch of highway got its nickname from the graffiti painted all over its surface. Smoke from the subterranean mine fires that forced the abandonment of Centralia waft up through its cracks. The road is bounded by foundations where Centralia’s buildings one stood and, and a few remaining structures and cemeteries.

Hynoski told the Daily Item that activity on the highway has increased during the coronavirus epidemic and that state police have been chasing trespassers away.

The Graffiti Highway was closed to traffic 25 years ago. PennDOT vacated the road and turned it over to a Pagnotti subsidiary in 2018.

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