Andrew Leicester Envisioned California Bridge For Community

March 5, 2014  |   Feature,   Initiatives,   World
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Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority officials knew early on that they wanted the bridge to do more than provide a pathway for light-rail trains to pass over I-210. They also wanted a work of art that would serve as a gateway to the San Gabriel Valley.

“We had the idea of turning the bridge into a sculpture,” says Habib Balian, the construction authority’s chief executive officer. “We didn’t want what I call ‘plant-on art,’ where an artist creates something to stick on the wall. We wanted the art to be in the form of design. The baskets that you now see from the end caps of the bridge — those are part of the structure that’s holding up the bridge.”

Designed by internationally known artist Andrew Leicester, the Gold Line Bridge is the largest public-art infrastructure project in California to date.
Designed by internationally known artist Andrew Leicester, the Gold Line Bridge is the largest public-art infrastructure project in California to date.

The Construction Authority, with the involvement of award-winning public artist Andrew Leicester, envisioned the Gold Line Bridge as a vivid expression
of the community, past and present. This pioneering collaboration resulted in the creation of a sculptural bridge built for the same cost originally estimated for a more conventional structure of its size.

The bridge's most prominent features are the two, 25-foot concrete basket sculptures that anchor the structure, and the distinctive snakeskin-like markings that run along the bottom of the bridge span. Leicester used the basket theme to pay homage to the San Gabriel Valley’s cultural heritage; the snakeskin-like grooves were cast into the concrete to simulate patterns found on the western diamondback rattlesnake.
The bridge’s most prominent features are the two, 25-foot concrete basket sculptures that anchor the structure, and the distinctive snakeskin-like markings that run along the bottom of the bridge span. Leicester used the basket theme to pay homage to the San Gabriel Valley’s cultural heritage; the snakeskin-like grooves were cast into the concrete to simulate patterns found on the western diamondback rattlesnake.
The $18.6 million dual track bridge is the first completed element of the 11.5-mile Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa, providing a connection between the existing Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena and the future Arcadia Station.
The $18.6 million dual track bridge is the first completed element of the 11.5-mile Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa, providing a connection between the existing Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena and the future Arcadia Station.

“The bridge evokes the great infrastructure designs of the 1930s Works Progress AdminisTraTion and signals a neW era of artist involvement in major Public initiatives of our time,” said Barbara Goldstein, former editor and publisher of Arts and Architecture.

Andrew Leicester is a public artist born and educated in England who immigrated to the U.S. in 1970. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN.