No immediate plans to remove graffiti covering Montreal’s Turcot Interchange

The city says it would like to work with Transports Québec to come up with a permanent solution to tackle graffiti on the Turcot Interchange

Two years after the completion of the Turcot Interchange, graffiti covers the acres of dark grey concrete walls supporting the highway. The area underneath the MUHC Glen site by Highway 15 near the Decarie expressway is particularly stark, with almost every inch of the highway wall completely covered in colourful urban scrawls.

“It’s terrible. I think it gives a horrible impression of the city,” said Zino Fountotos, who works for graffiti removal company Rocket Graffiti. “I think it gives a first impression of a dirty, lawless city.”

Transports Québec completed the $3.6-billion interchange in 2020. While it was still under construction, vandals attacked the newly painted grey walls almost immediately.

Global News reported on the graffiti in 2019, when parts of the highway were still under construction. We spoke to Montreal’s mayor at the time, and she called the graffiti ugly, and wanted it cleaned up. The city doesn’t tolerate graffiti, and considers it a crime and vandalism.

Three years later, though, the graffiti is still there, and is only getting worse.

“What bothers me the most is hate graffiti, but I do understand the public reaction to what is going on,” said Corey Fleischer of Erasing Hate.

Fleischer focuses on ridding public spaces of any hate-related graffiti. He said if the Turcot Interchange were covered in hate paint, it would be erased immediately. While he appreciates urban art and believes there is a place for it, he understands why some feel the Turcot Interchange is now out of control.

“There is almost no area left to graffiti. It is getting out of control,” he said. “It is not allowed by the laws of our city…. Unfortunately, they are just not attacking it the way they should be.”