The permanent art installation will light-up at night.
Government and community leaders late last week unveiled completed enhancements to Downtown’s Peachtree Street Bridge including a two-sided “Peachtree” sign, which represent the first phase of the broader Connector Transformation Project.
The project’s first phase focuses on creating new Connector “gateways” at two Peachtree Street Bridges, north and south. The south Peachtree Street Bridge at the northern end of Downtown, where the “Peachtree” letters are situated, is located between Pine Street and Ivan Allen, Jr. Blvd.
The letters are intended to “improve the visual appearance of the I-75/85 Connector for the 300,000 individuals who travel along the roadway each day,” Wilma Sothern, VP of marketing, Central Atlanta Progress, told What Now Atlanta in an email.
Atlanta-based photographer Gene Phillips’ work can be seen on the sign street-side.
The Peachtree Street Bridge at the northern end of Midtown, located between the Buford Highway Connector and Deering Road, is scheduled for completion in early 2017.
The bridges would feature distinctive design elements, including gateway arches (north bridge only), and new landscaping and lighting along the barrier-separated sidewalks.
$5.3 million from public and private sources has been raised to fund the Bridge enhancements projects.
In addition to funding from the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID) and Midtown Improvement District (MID), support has been provided by the Georgia Department of Transportation Gateway Initiative, the State Road and Tollway Authority, Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank and the Woodruff Foundation.
This is a very good start to really branding the city. One of the problems with Atlanta is the lack of any significant public art (especially sculptures. There is a very good street art scene now, and hopefully they do more and more of this kind of thing in the future.