Dancing duo make their mark on motorway art

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Two dancing figures stretching 91ft into the air above a busy motorway junction have become the tallest piece of public art since Nelson's Column.

Two dancing figures stretching 91ft into the air above a busy motorway junction have become the tallest piece of public art since Nelson's Column.

The sculpture, Encounter, was swung by crane on to its stand beside a roundabout off the M62 near Warrington, Cheshire. Weighing about 26 tons, it alters the skyline for miles around while acting as a "gateway" to Birchwood, home to one of Europe's biggest business parks.

Stephen Broadbent, the artist, said the work was intended to reflect the relationship between business and the community. "The idea is taken from a birch tree," he said. "It is a tall, slender shape, and elegant, I hope. The figures are formed as though they come from the peeling bark of a birch tree and they are encountering each other and meeting one another."

For the organisers, the Birchwood Forum, it marked the end of more than two and a half years of planning. Peter Crompton, the chairman, said: "We wanted to put Birchwood on the map."

The sculpture will be painted and lit during the coming months before electronics are placed inside the hollow steel sculpture so it can be used as a mobile phone mast.