The spinning wheels inside a young artist’s mind and the wheels from vintage wagons discovered across the Bronx, collided at the intersection of Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse, creating a unique work of art that will be on display until next spring.

Welder and artist Colin Nicodemo, 44, of Cold Spring, N.Y., beamed with pride during the unveiling of his ten-foot high a hand-welded, circular shaped statue entitled, “All Roads Lead to Fordham”.

Nicodemo was surrounded by family members and members of the Fordham Road Business Improvement District (BID), at the unveiling at the south side of the East Fordham Road overpass on the Grand Concourse, on Sept. 14.

Working with the BID and the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program, Nicodemo explained, “We had this concept that was Fordham Road and the importance of transportation and meshing that together and coming up with a piece that people can look at and give appreciation to, however they see fit.”

Nicodemo, who spent a good deal of his childhood visiting family on Conners Street, scoured the Bronx’s junkyards and flea markets across the borough to find vintage wheels of old wagons and carts and welded them together, creating his unique urban art project. The gears came from an antique shop, he said.

According to Daniel Bernstein, deputy director of the Fordham Road BID, the project has been kicked around since 2015. “This project has been in the works since 2015… We’ve actually done a lot of projects like this in the past,” said Bernstein. “What we do is partner with the Department of Transportation’s Art Program, what they do is kind of select hotspots throughout the city, where they want to see art.”

Bernstein continued, “Fordham Road wasn’t one of them, but we made sure that it was, because we feel like it should have more art because we’re known for just clothing stores and retailers and things like that.”

With the BID having participated in public art exhibits on the Grand Concourse for the last decade, Bernstein added, “[Nicodemo] really had a great idea for something that would center around Fordham Road, just generally the traffic that we get, the accessibility that runs through here, and that’s really what this piece is all about.”

Sponsors of the program include Dylan James Design, Councilman Ritchie Torres and the Woodstock Artists Association.  The Fordham Road BID is a non-profit corporation under contract with the City of New York to “provide supplementary services to the community,” focusing on sanitation, beautification, promotion and overall advocacy for the Fordham Road area. For more information of the Fordham BID, visit their website at:www.Fordhamroad.nyc.