The 30th Street Pedestrian Bridge connecting Barrio Logan and Logan Heights spans the Interstate 5 freeway that ripped the neighborhood in two when it was built decades ago.
Until recently, the bridge was surrounded by deteriorating chain link caging and was not much more than a large slab of concrete that was poorly maintained.
That is until it was included along with four other pedestrian bridges across San Diego County in a $8.6 million Caltrans project. In the last year the 30th Street bridge has received the maintenance it needed — and undergone an artistic transformation.
Marisa Aguayo, the executive director of All of Logan, a non-profit organization that serves Barrio Logan through art and elevating local business, said they were approached about a year ago by the Environmental Health Coalition and Caltrans to find local artists.
All for Logan organized a search for community artists and conducted a contest to design a mural that would span across the bridge.
Brisk One, an abstract fine artist with roots in murals and graffiti, had the winning design.
It’s a long serpent, inspired in part by designs on the pyramid of feathered serpents at Xochicalco, that spans the bridge, bringing color to a structure that once had only industrial grey.
Brisk said he was familiar with the bridge, specifically the stairs on the Barrio Logan side, through old videos of local skateboarders. Those stairs are now an ADA accessible ramp, and the rattler of the serpent Brisk designed.
In the design process, he said, he learned more about this bridge, the significance behind it and how it has been neglected through the people at All for Logan.
“It bridges the gap between Barrio Logan and Logan Heights,” Aguayo said. “So this pedestrian bridge has been here for a while. But it hasn’t been very well kept up and I know a lot of community crosses that bridge. Students, elders, moms, kids.”
Brisk didn’t paint the bridge — Caltrans contracted a group to do it — but he said he stopped by every day they worked on it. The entirety of the pedestrian bridge is covered in his design. It’s the largest mural he’s ever designed.
“That’s the point of, you know, creating artwork for different generations to really see that it’s possible, that people from the city can actually add artwork to the city,” he said.
“Kids that cross that bridge to go to school everyday, can see that as part of their upbringing. You know, hop on the little diamondbacks and shapes and play hopscotch, and maybe it gives them a burst of color in a place that did have much color. I’d really like this to be one of many to come.”
The mural was painted to last. Brisk said as he observed he saw how they mixed the colors and applied multiple coats to make sure the art can withstand being walked upon for years.
Caltrans said the paint is UV resistant, which factors into lengthening the mural’s lifespan, and can it help reduce the pavement’s temperature.
For those involved, there’s an awareness about what public art on this scale, designed to be around for over a decade, will mean for those who encounter it.
“I hope that when that grandma or that student is walking to school after everything that’s going on, it brings a smile to their face,” Aguayo said. “That’s my hope. That it reflects everything that’s going on and then the beauty of our resilience and that we’re still here, and we’re not going anywhere.”
A community event will be held Saturday, Jan. 10 at 10 a.m. to unveil the new bridge. Visit All for Logan’s instagram for information.
Later this month, a similar pedestrian bridge artistic project will be installed in San Ysidro, near I-5 and Willows Elementary School, a Caltrans District 11 representative said.
