The 17th Avenue railroad trestle bridge was built in 1888. A local Pensacola landmark, people have been painting the bridge for generations and the paintings change daily.
Anything and everything gets painted on the graffiti bridge: tributes, professions of love, invitations to prom, well-wishes to sports teams and graduates, anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, profanity, hopeful messages, celebrations, drawings, artwork, community event announcements, and the list goes on. People get engaged here, and some have even gotten married here. The bridge attracts painters, photographers, and tourists who want a sense of what Pensacolans are all about.
Graffiti coats every square inch of the little bridge, so that the art has moved outwards into the parking lot nearby and the railroad ties above. As with most graffiti, it’s not strictly legal, but the Pensacola community seems to have accepted the bridge and the art on it as a local landmark. Police largely look the other way as they drive past the nightly taggers.
The artists know that nothing is permanent here—their works of art might be painted over in matter of hours—but if they put something really good on the bridge, it might just stick around for a while.
Park at the city boat ramp adjacent to the bridge. If you walk around the bridge, be mindful of oncoming traffic that has poor visibility coming around the curve. If your vehicle is taller than 10'8", do not attempt to drive under the bridge. Bring a can of paint and add to the canvas.
Molly McBride Jacobson
