LONG ISLAND CITY — A walkway in Queens is taking the term "foot bridge" literally.
A 750-foot-long mural with a design inspired by the patterns on the bottom of a sneaker will soon be painted along the Thomson Avenue bridge, a pedestrian span that crosses over the Sunnyside Railyard between 44th Drive and Skillman Avenue.
The art, titled "Pedestrian Patterns Mural," is being installed through the Department of Transportation by local business organization Long Island City Partnership and 7Train Murals, a group that creates public art projects along the 7 train line.
The mural is a horizontal design featuring a number of differently patterned panels — modeled after the soles of sneakers — painted in vibrant colors at the start of the piece that give way to more muted tones further along the bridge.
"Because it's a pedestrian bridge, I wanted to address the commute, the daily commute," said artist Mark Salinas, founder of 7Train Murals, who submitted the design to the DOT's Community Commissions program.
"The east sde of the bridge begins very bold and colorful and loud, and then transitions into a sort of quieter, almost camouflaged palate," he said. "It kind of represents [the] noisy, loud, busy commute to work in the morning and then the quiet walk home at night."
The group will work with a number of volunteers to stencil and paint the piece, including students from nearby International High School and LaGuardia Community College.
"This is a one single-concept mural, painted 100 percent by people who live and work in the neighborhood," Salinas said.
The LIC Partnership, which is sponsoring the project, said it will be the largest "community-made" mural in Queens.
"Thomson Avenue Bridge is a vital connector for thousands of LaGuardia Community College students, local workers and residents," the group's president, Elizabeth Lusskin, said in a statement. "We applaud the NYC DOT for making it livelier and more inviting."
Salinas said he expects to complete the mural by the end of the month, while an official unveiling is planned for Aug. 12, according to the LIC Partnership.