Pick Up Sticks (and Bones)

37th St. and BQE West on-ramp (Oct. 2014)

In mid-September, I reported on the installation of plastic lane dividers and paining of lines to recognize a de facto pedestrian crossing of the viaduct--and one of the busiest intersections in Queens, if not the city, where 37th Ave., Broadway, and both on- and off-ramps from the BQE come together.

(Source NYC DOT)

According to QueensBrownstoner.com, the DOT has enlisted an artist and volunteers to make it pretty: "Late last week, the Department of Transportation and volunteers from New York Cares painted the concrete barriers along the pedestrian walkway at 37th Avenue and 69th Street. You can see the finished product — which stretches 150 feet — pictured above. The design is by the Greek artist Eirini Linardaki; she wanted to depict a game of pick up sticks. As the DOT stated last week in a press release, 'The artist aims to have the mural act as an illustration of the game, as a colorful abstraction, and as a New York City grid.'"

"Pick up sticks" seems an apt metaphor for the game of survival entailed in getting across the bridge alive. Art imitates life. (Thanks to Robyn Love for the highway art alert.)