Anti-coronavirus signs remain on Zwolle noise barrier, ‘removing them costs a lot of money’

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NOS News•today, 12:54

The anti-coronavirus signs that have been on a noise barrier along the A28 highway near Zwolle for years will not be removed. Rijkswaterstaat has no plans for this.

“It costs a lot of money to remove them. Moreover, no complaints have been received,” says Mirjam Adriaanse of Rijkswaterstaat at Oost.

From 2020 onwards, many protest slogans were painted in large letters, especially on the noise barriers of the A28 near Zwolle, such as ‘It’s not right, QR goes too far’, referring to the QR codes that were introduced as admission tickets during the corona crisis, which were again linked with proof of vaccination or negative test.

With the end of the corona crisis, the slogans on the noise barrier have lost their relevance, but cleaning is not a priority for Rijkswaterstaat.

“Removing graffiti, because that is what we are actually talking about, is a costly affair,” said spokesperson Adriaanse. “The road has to be closed, a contractor has to be hired and then the cleaning itself. In short, a lot of hassle. And we haven’t even mentioned the inconvenience to traffic.”

Adriaanse cannot say exactly what removing the slogans will cost. “But it won’t be cheap.”

There is another reason not to intervene, she explains: road safety is not at risk because of the slogans. This is different with banners or flags, for example. “They cannot be properly secured and start to flap. That distracts motorists, so we remove them,” says Adriaanse.

The slogans at Zwolle have not yet been removed. That does not mean that the graffiti will remain on the wall forever. Adriaanse: “We look at it on a case-by-case basis. But we will remove texts that call for violence or that could offend people more quickly than a declaration of love.”