Beauty bridges; City sees underpasses as colorful, artistic links.

Byline: Nancy Sheehan

Could it be that downtown is struggling because it's on the wrong side of the tracks?

The city wants to connect Worcester's less-than-hoppin' downtown with Union Station and the up-and-coming neighborhoods on the other side of railroad tracks that bisect the city's center. Right now, the only pedestrian access is through dingy railroad underpasses that are uninviting by day and downright scary at night. But, pigeons would no longer rule the roost at five of the underpasses under a $1.6 million upgrade proposed by the city Office of Economic and Neighborhood Development.

Details of the plan were presented at a meeting at City Hall last night, along with startling before-and-after views of the bridges under consideration. The super creepy Franklin Street underpass, a 400-foot expanse of dankness and pigeon ... stuff?

Unrecognizable in the artist renderings of what it could look like with bright paint, improved sidewalks and durable lighted artwork casting a colorful glow. Or the Front Street underpass: Can you imagine it as an actual city-enhancing piece of public art instead of a dull, merely functional bridge spanning unlovely concrete abutments and rain puddles that seem the size of Lake Erie?

Stephen Crane can.

"It's a place that feels like you're someplace else when you're in there because it's so dark," said Crane, special projects coordinator for the city, of the Franklin Street underpass. "And through the use of public art you can transform it into a place that still feels separated but in a positive way, almost like an oasis in the city."

It wouldn't be an isolated oasis. The proposal, which is still in the design phase, also includes underpasses on Harding, Green and Grafton streets. After the bridges are gussied up, they would be linked by an Art Walk,

on which people could wend their way under all the bridges by following a Yellow Brick Road of sorts: sidewalks decorated with painted patterns and colored pavers.

Sound fanciful?

It is, but the practical side was considered too. Work for the proposal, financed by $50,000 in state and local grants, was done by city staffers, Worcester artist Susan Champeny, and Leni Schwendinger, an artist who fuses lighting with art into award-winning designs. Also hired was LEI, an Auburn-based civil engineering firm, to make sure the creative concepts could carry their own weight.

"We had a fun brainstorming session kicking around different kinds of concepts," Crane said. "Then we needed LEI to tell us `No you can't meld something like that into concrete, you can't put that there because they can't do bridge inspections, here's the kind of bird-proofing you need.' If you don't have that part it doesn't matter what kind of concept you create."

The bridges are owned by the Providence and Worcester and CSX railroads, which must approve the final plans.

The project would link downtown with the trendy Canal District, refurbished Union Station and the enticing eateries of Shrewsbury Street. But it also would become a destination in itself, something marketers could use to promote the city, according to Erin Williams, the city's cultural development officer. Williams was the one who came up with the defining concept for the proposal: five bridges, five senses.

That means each bridge is assigned a design concept relating to one of the human senses - sight, hearing, touch, taste and, yes, even smell. At the same time, designs are to relate to something unique about the city of Worcester.

Now, stick with us on this: When they say "smell" (It would be the Franklin Street bridge) they mean neither pigeon droppings nor clouds of Chanel No. 5 spewing from the artwork on the walls. If an actual fragrance were to be used think, say, of the warm smell of just-baked Table Talk Pies wafting through the underpass, if that could somehow ever be replicated. But, let's be a little realistic: More likely it would be a metaphor for smell such as paintings or sculptures of flowers.

The "taste" bridge (Front Street) would include images of food or maybe some of Worcester's famous diners. Perhaps there would even be an actual hot dog vendor tucked in a nook outside Union Station. The "touch" bridge (Green Street) would include textured artwork evocative of Worcester's industrial past, such as screws and other hardware (No, no barbed wire). It also might include Braille renderings of the bridge's history or other city stories.

Now, what about people who just can't envision Worcester's transition from gritty city to pretty city, especially in these recessionary times?

"The next step is tied to grant finding and right now the climate is not good," Crane said. "We're not sure what the long-term prognosis is. We think it's an exciting concept. We think the concept can stand the test of time."

ART: PHOTO ILLUSTRATION; GRAPH

CUTLINE: (1) The Front Street bridge, above, would follow the ``taste" design concept. (2) The Franklin Street bridge might feature images of flowers, for the sensory depiction of ``smell." (3) ``Touch," ``Sight" and ``Sound" would be reflected at the Green Street bridge, left, Harding Street bridge, above, and Grafton Street bridge, above, respectively. (GRAPH) Budget summary

PHOTOG: (PHOTO ILLUSTRATION; GRAPH) T&G Staff/STACEY ARSENAULT