(Image: SDOT)

RapidRide G has brought six-minute peak service, bus priority signals, and upgraded pedestrian crossings to E Madison. It will also soon add a new rainbow landmark to the neighborhood intended to “echo the surrounding architecture and reflect the diversity of the nearby communities.”

The Seattle Department of Transportation says a new public art installation is underway on the triangle wedge of concrete where Madison, 14th Ave, and Pike meet — “where Capitol Hill, the Central District, and First Hill converge.”

The new sculpture from Seattle artist Ben Zamora has been designed to display two color gradients. A viewer will see “a warm palette visible when facing east towards the sunrise and a cool palette when facing west towards sunset,” Metro says. “The ever-changing composition mirrors the constant transformation of these neighborhoods.”

Installation of the work will be taking place over coming weeks.

The project was coordinated with the Office of Arts and Culture “to enhance the urban design and streetscape along the corridor” as part of the One Percent for Art ordinance that sets aside 1% of capital-improvement-project funds for the commission of sculptures and public art.

The $144 million RapidRide G line launched in September with ambitious public transit goals  and plenty of hiccups around Madison’s new buses, stops, signs, and signals.

The intersection had been the site of another Madison landmark, of sorts. SDOT removed one of the last remaining physical crossing bells in the city during RapidRide construction.

While not as overt as Capitol Hill’s LGBTQ-inspired rainbow crosswalks, the new Madison wedge sculpture will add a new multi-hued landmark to the area. SDOT has had its hands full this fall trying to repair recent vandalism to the rainbow crosswalks and a 15th Ave E bus pad.

On Madison, the new work is hoped to inspire respect — and change. “As viewers move around the piece, it expands, contracts, and reinvents itself—much like the communities it intends to represent,” the transportation department’s announcement of the installation reads. “This sculpture is a love letter to the people: honoring those who live here, those who have lived here, and welcoming those yet to come.”

SDOT says the new sculpture along the RapidRide route will be installed by the end of the year.

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