It's not there now, but a couple days ago travelers heading west on Route 248 may have noticed some graffiti on the pillar of a turnpike bridge.

Carl DeFebo, director of public relations and marketing for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, said it's tough to catch people who paint graffiti on bridges, overpasses and other public surfaces. But if they get a tip, they run with it. That means they call the police and prosecute."The people who do it are elusive," he said. "You almost have to have someone see it happen."Many times the turnpike commission doesn't even know the graffiti is there, because it may not be visible from the road.The graffiti near Route 248 is a perfect example of that, he said.Although it was on turnpike property, it wasn't visible from the turnpike roadway. It was sprayed on the bridge pillar from Route 248."It's calls from people that lets us know it's there," DeFebo said.If turnpike knows about the graffiti within 24 hours of it being applied, then the road crews can cover it with anti-graffiti paint.The paint covers the tags so well that nothing shines through. Unfortunately, most of the time, the graffiti has been there for a while before they find out about it.When that happens, crews power wash the graffiti off.Sometimes it leaves a ghost image though. But once the surface is dry, then road crews can use the anti-graffiti paint to cover it.The amount of graffiti found on turnpike property isn't a "massive problem," DeFebo said. "It happens more on the mainline turnpike and Philadelphia areas, the urban areas."