Two years after opening, Oklahoma City’s iconic SkyDance Bridge is already in need of repairs, as city crews had to replace decking that had bowed upward, causing a significant bump.
The bridge features an unusual design that looks like the scissor-tailed flycatcher, Oklahoma’s state bird. Art organizations across the country, including Americans for the Arts, have praised the bridge as a significant work of public art.
However, there have been some in the community who have been less than enthused by the structure, as some Oklahomans have a reputation for being turned off by art that isn’t instantly recognizable.
For at least a few days, the orange traffic cones located at the end of the bridge to warn pedestrians and cyclists of the broken decking provided a more familiar view to Oklahomans. Maybe the bridge’s shape and color would have been more appropriate as a traffic construction cone. It would have been an image Oklahomans are much more familiar with than the scissor-tailed flycatcher.
This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2014.