Loveland Artists' Sculpture Being Removed Due To I-25 Interchange Project
LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) -- A blue horse display next to a Colorado highway is being removed. No, Denver, not THAT one. "Blucifer" is safe.
We are talking about a 100-foot-long work of steel at the Interstate 25 and U.S. 34 interchange that depicts three blue horses galloping.
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In place for more than five years now, the artwork will be removed soon and placed in storage until a new location can be found for it, the City of Loveland announced Wednesday.
This, as construction and road crews come nearer to breaking ground on the remake of the interchange. It's part of the The Colorado Department of Transportation's extensive I-25 North Project.
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The sculpture, named "Equinox," was created by three Loveland residents - figurative sculptor Jack Kreutzer, structural engineer and artist Doug Rutledge, and artist and philanthropist Doug Erion.
It cost $225,000 to make and install, paid for by a CDOT grant of $163,000. The remaining money came from Loveland's Art in Public Places fund.
The sculpture will require a crane to lower its pieces to the ground, and removal of its supports from the footings composed of 54 tons of concrete. LPR Construction, the Loveland steel construction specialist that worked with the artists to install the sculpture, will provide the expertise and equipment needed for its removal.
Measuring five stories in height and weighing 13 tons, "Equinox" will require something larger than a standard storage locker.
Disassembly of "Equinox" will begin sometime in the next two weeks.