Two meet-and-greet sessions scheduled Tuesday with artists creating a sculpture for the Chestnut Avenue underpass beneath Interstate 5 in Carlsbad have been postponed until further notice, city officials said.
The proposed public art is linked to the widening of I-5 now underway as part of the North Coast Corridor Program, a decades-long expansion of railroad, highway, and pedestrian facilities led by Caltrans and the San Diego Association of Governments.
At Chestnut Avenue the corridor program calls for wider sidewalks, new bike lanes, landscaping and lighting along with the sculpture. The underpass is considered a gateway into Carlsbad’s older Barrio neighborhood. The artwork is intended to reflect the history, heritage and identity of the Barrio and the surrounding area.
Overall the improvements will take about two years to complete and will require cutting into the sloping banks of the underpass and building new perpendicular retaining walls to add 10 feet of width on each side of the road, city officials said.
Last year a city committee of Carlsbad residents, arts commission members and a local arts professional selected Greenmeme, a collaboration between artists Freyja Bardell and Brian Howe, over two other artists who submitted proposals for the project.
The public meetings will be rescheduled soon, city officials said. In the meantime, people who have ideas to share for the project can email them to arts@carlsbadca.gov.
Greenmeme will continue to develop the concept for the artwork and will provide an update to the city’s Arts Commission this summer.
