Downtown Lincoln will soon have a new work of art highly visible to motorists.

The City Council gave its stamp of approval to plans to install a photographic mural on the downtown skywalk over 12th Street.

The vinyl mural will depict 10 people of various ages and ethnicities walking, some of them standing, with a brick wall in the background. It will cover the whole skywalk, which is 86 feet long.

The skywalk is owned by the city.

The project has been in the works since about 2003, when 12th Street was designated an arts corridor and the Downtown Lincoln Association hired an arts consultant, according to Dallas McGee of the Urban Development Department. The mural is designed to enhance the arts corridor and downtown retail area.

The DLA raised $60,000 for the project from local foundations and businesses. It received proposals from more than 50 artists nationwide. Local artist Larry Roots’ artwork was chosen.

People walking inside the skywalk will still be able to see out – similar to people riding in advertisement-slathered StarTran buses.

Roots said the work was inspired by the Stories of Home project, which celebrates diversity.

“It was people that (were) on my mind,” he said. “I think that’s the lifeblood of a community.”

In fact, the people depicted in the mural are actual Lincoln residents.

The mural is to be installed by June 15.