PICS: A local artist’s proposal has been chosen to feature in the pedestrian underpass below the newly-built Melton Highway road bridge in Sydenham, in northwest Melbourne.
Victoria’s Level Crossing Removal Authority on October 5 announced a concept from Glenlyon artist Jason Waterhouse had been chosen as the preferred artwork for the Melton Highway project.
A six-lane road bridge was recently built and opened over the Sunbury and Bendigo railway, replacing one of Melbourne’s busiest level crossings.
A two-stage selection process was used to decide on an artwork to feature in the project’s newly-built pedestrian underpass, which is below the highway and alongside the rail line.
The winning submission, called Leveled Crossing, reuses the removed boom gates from the old level crossing and ‘knots’ them together, to signify the barrier the gates once presented to motorists and members of the community.
Waterhouse’s proposal is to fabricate a central ‘knot’ in steel and graft it to the existing boom gates, to give a seamless finish.
“The artwork will be installed by the end of the year, as part of an architect-designed space under the eastern side of the new six-lane road bridge,” the Level Crossing Removal Authority said.
The judges’ panel included representatives from Brimbank City Council, Creative Victoria, the Office of the Victorian Government Architect, and the Level Crossing Removal Authority itself.