People Mover puts up its first artwork bus stop sign on Muldoon Road

Anchorage's bus stops are getting art. People Mover unveiled the first of about 680 artwork bus stop signs Wednesday at Muldoon Road and Northern Lights Boulevard, with phased installation starting this fall.

Anchorage artist and science illustrator Julia Ditto made the design through the agency's Locally Rooted Art Initiative. It layers the habitats a rider passes through, from the Chugach Mountains to Turnagain Arm, with the plants and animals that live in them.

"When people look at my design, I want them to consider the land they are crossing, the history of its people and the value it still holds today," Ditto said.

Underneath the artwork, new informational signs will replace the paper schedules that have long been taped up at stops. That follows a pilot on Route 25, which has used metal signs since October 2024. The Muldoon stop also got a new shelter, bench and trash can, part of improvements at dozens of stops this summer, with more planned for 2027 and 2028. Most riders will wait a while for either: the signs go up in phases, and the amenity work runs into 2028.

"Bus stops are where every People Mover trip begins and ends, so the experience riders have at these spaces matters," said Bart Rudolph, who directs the municipality's Public Transportation Department. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance joined Ditto at the unveiling.

People Mover carries about 11,000 trips each weekday.