Beck’s “Appalachian Ecology: Nature’s Quilt” will be a defining feature of the Route 22/I-376 Diverging Diamond project, the first in PennDOT’s new Parkway West public art initiative.
Professor Kim Beck‘s large-scale surface design for the SR22/I-376 Interchange improvement project in Robinson Township, just outside Pittsburgh, leads an emerging vision for public art integration across Western PA highways. Her concept, Appalachian Ecology: Nature’s Quilt, transforms the new interchange into a celebration of regional ecology, drawing on the traditional “Flying Geese” quilt pattern. The design is filled with silhouettes of deer, birds, and Pennsylvania’s state tree, the Eastern Hemlock, evoking both the movement of wildlife and the flow of traffic through the Appalachian landscape.
PennDOT District 11 selected Beck through a partnership with Shiftworks Community + Public Arts and the Pittsburgh Creative Corps to integrate public art into highway projects across the Parkway West corridor. Beyond designing the interchange, Beck proposed a guiding theme for future commissions, “Hidden Histories,” encouraging artists to showcase overlooked stories embedded in the region’s natural and built environments. Construction on the interchange will begin in spring 2026 and continue through summer 2029.
Concept renderings for Kim Beck’s “Appalachian Ecology: Nature’s Quilt”