Two San Diego freeway crossings now carry stories chosen by artists from the neighborhoods around them. Before a ribbon-cutting scheduled for Oct. 10, the San Diego Monitor reported that completed murals were visible along Imperial Avenue beneath Interstate 5 and State Route 15. The sites carry different themes, but both draw on the local history, cultural backgrounds and music of Logan Heights and Sherman Heights.
The CommUnity Mural Project took about four years to reach installation. Logan Heights Community Development Corporation led it with Caltrans, the San Diego Association of Governments and the City of San Diego. Caltrans approved $270,000 for artists to create the work, according to the Monitor. The project’s organizer page describes community workshops and dialogues as part of the design process, with residents’ stories and ideas informing the artwork. An organizer-supported KPBS listing says the project was funded through California’s Clean California Initiative. The sources describe community input as part of the process, not a vote on every finished image.
Artist Kim Pea was selected to oversee the project. The Monitor reported that her role grew out of volunteer work with Caltrans intended to show that local artists and a state transportation agency could work together on public art. The work also addressed an opportunity gap Pea described: local artists do not often receive this kind of paid public commission.
Logan Heights CDC helped invite artists to take part. About 30 initially came forward, Pea told the Monitor, and a dozen remained committed as the project moved through its long timeline. The organizer-supported KPBS listing describes the finished project as featuring more than a dozen local artists. The Monitor said artist contracts required coordination among the City of San Diego’s Arts & Culture office, SANDAG, Logan Heights CDC and Caltrans. Pea said approval to order paint and supplies and to authorize artist compensation came about 75 days before the Monitor’s report.
The two locations tell related but distinct stories. At the State Route 15 underpass, the paintings draw on music and the cultural backgrounds of the participating artists. Under Interstate 5, walls on opposite sides reflect the past, present and future of Logan Heights and Sherman Heights. One section also recognizes the Black Panther Party’s role in Sherman Heights, according to the Monitor.
Logan Heights CDC’s project page describes its installation approach: polytab, a flexible material intended for large installations, for the I-5 murals, followed by adhesives and protective finishes; and direct painting on the SR-15 concrete pillars. The page outlines the organizer’s method, but the independent report does not confirm the final materials used at each site.
Designers also had to account for traffic. Pea told the Monitor that the agencies restricted colors, words and images that could distract drivers. The artists could not use colors resembling traffic signals or lettering that might make someone slow down to read it. Within those boundaries, she said, the State Route 15 paintings could still celebrate music and the artists’ cultural backgrounds.
The project’s public setting is part of its scale. The Monitor cited a Caltrans census figure of about 280,000 vehicles passing the two underpass sections in a week. That number describes traffic, not how many people stopped to see the murals. The artwork is positioned for people moving through the corridor, where safety rules shaped what could be painted and how the stories would be read.
The organizer’s project page presents the murals as a way to reflect Greater Logan Heights’ identity and make neighborhood stories visible in shared spaces. That is the project’s stated purpose, rather than a measured result. Its design process linked community input with artists’ work, then adapted those stories to the walls and pillars available under two freeways. The CDC identifies Greater Logan Heights with Grant Hill, Logan, Memorial, Sherman and Stockton among its neighborhoods.
The work brings neighborhood histories and music into two public spaces where transportation rules set clear limits on color, lettering and imagery. That combination—local stories within safety constraints—is the documented story behind the murals.
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