The pedestrian walkway once touted as a physical, commercial and psychological bridge between East Liberty and Shadyside has passed provisional design muster and is expected to be in place by autumn of next year.

Planned as a link between Shadyside and the Eastside development anchored by Whole Foods, the bridge has been delayed by right-of-way conflicts, property transfers and cost. Construction of Eastside, which now includes Borders Books, Walgreens and PNC Bank, began in 2004.

The Pittsburgh Arts Council and East Liberty Development Inc. put out a call for artists in February 2007 and culled a list of local and national contenders to choose Sheila Klein to design the bridge. The Seattle artist was born and raised in Pittsburgh.

She will show the design, among other work, at a lecture and reception next Thursday.

Renee Piechocki, director of the arts council's office of public art, said the artistic challenges have been to design beyond "concrete slab and steel," and to make a suicide fence that "doesn't feel like a cage."

She said the choice of Ms. Klein was based in part on her native's sense of place, "and her work is really, really interesting. If anyone can make suicide fencing look like something good, it's her."

Since last summer, Ms. Klein has worked on designs with architects, engineers, developers, neighborhood leaders and city officials. She said the bridge is personally symbolic to her as a former East Liberty kid.

"I would go to Shadyside because I was an arty kid in a traditional family," she said in a phone interview yesterday. "It's where I started becoming the person I am today."

Shadyside is not bohemian now, and East Liberty is attracting hipsters, "and that's an interesting point," she said. "There are always these kinds of shifts and cycles.

"I'm all about transforming things, and I like to mix it up with all the different disciplines," she said.

She worked for 25 years in a collaborative of artists and architects, she said. Her lecture next week will be based on a theme of dressing the built environment. One of her works is a necklace around the shoulders of a skyscraper.

The footpath part of her pedestrian bridge will appear to be an abstract painting, she said, but the yellow lines arranged like pickup sticks are a direct replication of the unintended design city maintenance workers create at a site in the Strip District where they test yellow paint for use on streets.

"I borrowed the imagery," she said. "It's the kind of thing most people don't see, but I look for."

As for the suicide fencing -- fencing along rails of bridges to prevent people from jumping -- it will be shaped like sculpture to seem like a journey, "like a ride," she said.

"I thought of places like fun houses and this big whale the zoo used to have that you could walk through." Ms. Klein said.

Atop the fencing, she said "thousands of glass sequins will reflect the light and create a sparkly edge."

The bridge is an Urban Redevelopment Authority project that will be owned by the city. The 26-foot-wide, roughly 100-foot-long span, along with sidewalk improvements and lighting, is a $1.5 million project, said Ernie Hogan deputy director of East Liberty Development.

Ms. Klein said the design team expects to present plans for final review by the end of June to the state Department of Transportation, which administers federal funding.

With family still here and her work on the project, she has revisited Pittsburgh often, she said.

"I think it's really an interesting place right now. In terms of the possibility of experimentation, which is essential to a culture, Pittsburgh is wonderful. There's a lot of space for people to do things."