Cutting at a piece of modern art

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- It’s a mystery that has baffled city officials and

Caltrans workers for years.

And they all have the same question: “Why would anyone do something

like that?”

Sure, there have been more gruesome mysteries than the rusty padlocks

that adorn the fences erected on top of the city’s freeway bridge.

And officials are not even sure if it amounts to vandalism or

graffiti.

But they do want to know why.

Early Thursday morning, Caltrans maintenance workers removed more than

40 padlocks that were snapped on to the fences on the Bay Street bridge

that runs above the tail-end of the Costa Mesa Freeway.

It wasn’t the first time, nor will it probably be the last, that these

locks will have to be cut, said Bill Morris, the city’s public services

director.

“If somebody finds out why people put these locks up there, I’d like

to know why on earth they do it,” he said with an exasperated laugh.

He said the padlocks do not pose a public hazard or problems to

freeway traffic.

“It’s just an eyesore,” he said. “And we always get complaints about

it.”

Morris guessed that maybe somebody is using the fences as an outlet

for their creative urges.

“Maybe they think it’s modern art or something, I don’t know,” he

said. “But I’m very, very curious.”

The fences that are part of the overpasses, however, fall under

Caltrans’ jurisdiction.

The last time workers found these locks in Costa Mesa was on the

Fairview Road bridge above the San Diego Freeway about a year and a half

ago, said Rose Melgoza, spokeswoman for Caltrans.

The padlocks were not uniform but seemed to be of different kinds in

terms of shapes and sizes, she said. Some were regular square locks that

are opened with keys, and a few others were number locks.

But the problem is not what Caltrans would consider serious or a high

priority, Melgoza said.

“It’s probably just schoolkids who have nothing better to do,” she

said. “We don’t treat it as any real type of vandalism. It’s just

unsightly.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .