Under the Aurora Bridge crouches the Fremont Troll, an eighteen-foot concrete sculpture clutching a Volkswagen Beetle, in place since October 31, 1990. The troll was created by four Seattle artists — Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead — who won a Fremont Arts Council competition to make public art from the dark, damp space under the bridge. The Beetle is a real 1969 Volkswagen, embedded in the concrete.
The troll has become one of Seattle's most visited public art installations, photographed daily by visitors who climb it, peer into its hubcap eye, and try to imagine what it is thinking. The Aurora Bridge above carries Highway 99 across the Lake Washington Ship Canal; completed in 1932, it spans 2,945 feet and rises 167 feet above the water. The bridge has also been the site of numerous suicides, a crisis that led to crisis intervention signs and long advocacy for a prevention barrier.
The Troll below is whimsical and beloved; the bridge above carries a heavier history.