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North Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- A North Las Vegas eyesore has been cleaned up, but taxpayers are likely left with the bill for the railroad bridge targeted by graffiti vandals.
 
Crews from the Nevada Department of Transportation repainted the Union Pacific bridge over Interstate 15 near the Lake Mead Exit last week. Tan paint now covers up the graffiti, which police said was likely the work of taggers.
 
"I'm just glad to see it gone and that the neighborhood is clean," said Essie Tiffith, who volunteers at a nearby church food pantry.
 
Driver Warren Hardy said he was fed up with the graffiti vandalism. Hardy said he called the county in January to report the problem, but nothing got fixed. So he emailed Action News.
 
"it's a very big eyesore," Hardy told Action News in February. "It brings down the value of the property in Vegas. It brings down morale."
 
We reported the problem to NDOT, who cleaned up the vandalism last week.
 
But this latest repair job, including special anti-graffiti screens, paint and labor, came at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $12,000, said NDOT asst. district engineer Mohamed Rouas.
 
"We cleaned up the whole structure four-to-five months ago and now we have to go back and two weeks ago do the same thing," said Rouas.
 
Rouas said the agency installed the screens around the bridge to prevent future vandalism. More screens are set to go up in the coming months, he said. While Union Pacific is responsible for the tracks, NDOT owns and maintains the actual bridge, the agency said.
 
NDOT is documenting the graffiti and reporting it to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Rouas said. If someone is caught for the crime, the vandal could have to pay the repair bill, he said.