One of the great things about Battery Park City is that it has a lot of public art, something that many neighborhoods in the city can't boast about.

So, it is never fun to report that public art gets run over.

Last December, "Light Tracks," an artwork by Audrey Matlock, the architect of Chelsea Modern, a very attractive building on West 18th Street in Chelsea with an angled facade and sidewalk lighting, was installed at the West Thames Street cul-de-sac.

Ms. Matlock began planning the art work, which was commissioned by the Battery Park City Authorty, in 2002. It features a circular manhole motif with radiating arms, each arm of which is highlighted by blue and yellow LED lights and at night a central beam is set to shine upward while the other lights go on and off at regularly timed internals in four different computerized patterns, according to a December 10, 2010 article at broadsheetdaily.com by Dianne Renzulli.

"The cul-de-sac makes a natural circular pattern that Ms. Matlock wanted to emphasize because the design requires cars, trucks and people to follow its shape. In choosing a motif, the manhole cover seemed a natural fit since the architect felt it represents the unique landfill base and history of Battery Park City," the article said.

"Some 58 blue and yellow airport reflector lights give depth to the design," said Ms. Matlock, "since the art piece has to be flush to the ground to allow trucks and cars to turn over its surface, and snow plows to clear snow from the area. We wanted to support the idea of public art within the space since it is at the end of the street where there are several art pieces," she said, adding that she hoped it would highlight the BPCA office and community room, and the pedestrian passage to the waterfront Esplanade," the article continued.

"Light Tracks" arose from a necessary renovation of the West Thames cul-de-sac and the article noted that "before starting the art project, Ms. Matlock had to first solve several practical problems. She worked on grading the road bed so it would drain properly, moving garbage storage indoors for the surrounding retail and residential businesses, installing a bicycle rack and power stations for the BPCA's electric cars, and moving the trees back from the road and the sidewalk forward to go directly around the circle."

An article by Joey Arak today at ny.curbed.com said that "Here's something else to be mad at Mayor Bloomberg about: Even when his plows make it to a neighborhood to clear mountains of snow, they mess up the art!"

Mr. Arak said that The Broadsheet Daily reports that "Light Tracks" got "all smashed up by sanitation trucks during the city's last big snowstorm" and that "the Battery Park City Authority has put in a claim with the city to get money for repairs."