Design
How Two Artists Hope to Liven Up Chicago's 'L' Tracks
“The Wabash Lights” will illuminate a stretch of elevated train tracks in whatever pattern you choose.
The rumble of passing trains over Wabash Avenue in Chicago is a constant low-grade aural assault. But a new art project is at least going to make those “L” tracks a lot more fun to look at.
“The Wabash Lights,” a public-art idea from the minds of local designers Jack Newell and Seth Unger reached (and actually surpassed) its Kickstarter goal of $55,000 for its beta version on Monday. That means that the project’s system of interactive LEDs will soon illuminate Wabash Avenue underneath a portion of the train tracks between Monroe and Adams streets.