Port Authority to consider policy to use public art in transit projects

It’s not as important as having clean vehicles or running on schedule, but Port Authority is realizing the value of public art as part of its projects. As a result, the authority’s board will consider a formal policy for how public art will be included in future projects when it meets Friday.

The board’s planning and stakeholder’s committee recommended approval of the policy after a presentation Thursday by Breen Masciotra, the authority’s manager of transit-oriented communities.

Ms. Masciotra told the committee that staff has been reviewing a possible public art policy since 2015 with Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Art. The authority has used artwork in previous projects, such as the walls of light rail tunnels in Downtown Pittsburgh and on the ground at T stops on Broadway Avenue in Beechview, but Ms. Masciotra said it needs to establish a formal policy.

“It’s really important to set expectations,” she said.

The proposed policy includes setting procedures for selecting art, paying artists and maintaining pieces after they are put in place. A committee that includes authority staff, the Office of Public Art and others would review and recommend proposed artwork to be included with other

projects.

The authority has routinely included some artwork in previous projects. Plans for rebuilding stations at Negley Avenue on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway in Shadyside and the bus and light rail station at Station Square on the South Side also include public art. The proposed policy will formalize that process for including art, which can be permanent or temporary.

Ms. Masciotra said artwork provides a variety of benefits, including encouraging ridership, reducing vandalism and improving safety. Although the artwork isn’t on authority property, Ms. Masciotra said one of the best examples of public art in a transit setting is Katz Plaza, immediately behind the authority’s bus stop across from Benedum Center on Seventh Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.

At this point, the authority doesn’t have other specific locations where it would like to add art, but it will actively look for more places. If it is approved, the policy begins April 1.