More than 80 King County Metro Transit bus shelters will be getting a makeover in the coming weeks both in structure and style, as photographs by students at Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW) in Seattle are built into shelters being repaired and renovated.

The Metro bus shelter at SR 520 and Evergreen Point Road is one of the shelters being upgraded.

Metro has more than 1,500 bus shelters spread across King County, and has an annual program to refurbish those that have deteriorated. Many Metro shelters sport murals painted by local school children and artists. That program started in 1989 as an effort to provide more interesting and attractive waiting areas for bus riders, and for the people who live in the neighborhoods near the shelters.

This year, 102 large-scale photographs will join the mural collection. The photographs were taken by both PCNW students and faculty members. More than 200 photographs were submitted as part of the “Mirroring Life” contest, and a jury of Metro and PCNW staff selected half for the project.

Each photographic artwork is printed directly onto a 2-foot by 8-foot shelter panel, clear coated with a protective sealant, and will be installed in a bus shelter that was already scheduled for refurbishment. Single-sized shelters will include one photo, and there will be two in each double shelter.

Metro hopes that the photographs will last eight years, until the next time that bus shelter is due for refurbishing. By incorporating them into the panel fabrication, the photographs should withstand the elements better than some of the hand-painted murals.

Work on the bus shelters with the photographic murals should be completed by the end of April. The $8,000 4Culture grant helps cover fabrication and installation costs.