City of Pittsburgh and PennDOT Announce Selected Artists for the Fern Hollow Bridge Replacement Project
PITTSBURGH — The City of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), in collaboration with the Federal Highway Administration, the Office for Public Art, Swank Construction Company, and HDR Inc., are excited to announce that artists have been selected to provide aesthetic elements to the Fern Hollow Bridge Replacement Project.
John Peña, of Pittsburgh, was selected to provide artwork to enhance the pedestrian and cyclist bridge-user experience. And Carin Mincemoyer, of Pittsburgh, was designated to integrate artwork that augments the trail-user experience below the Fern Hollow Bridge. Both artists will deliver public art that captures the spirit of Pittsburgh while remaining sensitive to the intimate setting of Frick Park and the surrounding natural area.
The emergency declarations signed earlier this year by both Governor Wolf and Mayor Gainey allowed the city to immediately turn the Fern Hollow Bridge Replacement Project over to PennDOT for management of design and construction, which in turn allowed the project to utilize emergency procurement procedures and begin work within seven days of the bridge collapse. While these emergency declarations expedited the overall design and construction process, the accelerated timeline did not allow for robust community engagement.
To date, bridge aesthetics has been one of the top subjects and has received significant feedback from the public. The Office for Public Art (OPA), which will curate the civic design process, will help to improve community interaction in the public project space.
The first step is gathering comments from the community to determine what they would like to see and/or envision for art on the new bridge. Residents are encouraged to provide their feedback regarding artistic enhancements for the Fern Hollow Bridge Replacement Project and can do so here.
The project team looks forward to collaborating with both Mr. Peña and Ms. Mincemoyer and is excited to see the results of their artistic creativity.
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