But a local nonprofit has embarked on an innovative urban renewal project called "Bridge Over Barriers" (BOB) that will brighten the enormous space at 300 North and 640 West with a 22,000 square foot mural that has brought the community together in surprising ways.

Maria Garciaz is the director of Neighborworks (formerly Salt Lake Neighborhood and Housing Services), an arts organization and the umbrella for BOB. It strives to invigorate Salt Lake's blighted neighborhoods, generally by providing affordable housing. But when Garciaz canvassed residents living near Jackson Elementary and in Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic parish, they cited the overpass as "a psychological and physical barrier," she says.

When Garciaz and Utah Arts Council director Margaret Hunt heard a presentation by Philadelphia artist Lily Yeh, they were inspired by how she used art to heal communities and asked her to help.

When completed in 18 months, the mural will be one of Utah's largest public art projects and, Garciaz says, a powerful statement of a more united neighborhood.

Longtime community activist Archie Archuleta remembers when construction of I-15 divided the city into east and west. After the Interstate came through, Archuleta says, "the west became a kind of no-man's land."

"When Neighborworks came into that area things really began to turn around," he says.

Hunt committed a significant portion of the council's recent National Endowment of the Arts grants to BOB and she and Garciaz invited Yeh to take the lead in bringing the mosaic into reality. Randy Price, a Utah Department of Transportation regional manager, committed $30,000 to complete the mural's first phase. Salt Lake City artist Terry Hurst is directing the project, along with 11 other artists, including his wife, Ruby Chacon.

For five years, Yeh has mentored the artists who in turn, have worked with the diverse communities in Guadalupe and Jackson to come up with the mural's design.

This week, Yeh conducted an artists' workshop focused on installing the mosaic work on the overpass pillars and span. A sample of the project, a single pillar, will be displayed at an open house at the Neighborworks headquarters.

"Looking back at the initial construction of 1-15, it's kind of amazing to think of how in the 1950s and '60s [the highway system] got away with what they did," says Price.

Archuleta believes people's lives can change when their environment is enhanced by art.

"You go through this blighted area and make it warmer and more human," he says. "You cover the gray concrete walls with beauty, and over time the people will have light."