An exhibit depicting the progress of the...

An exhibit depicting the progress of the Century Freeway project is on display at the South Bay Contemporary Museum of Art in Torrance.

The exhibit by artist Holly Crawford depicts the 20-year timeline of the $2.5-billion project on a strip of tar paper. Two thousand copper nails represent the number of affordable housing units built to replace homes destroyed to make way for the freeway, and 2,000 staples represent the people displaced since construction started on the project 10 years ago.

“It’s a metaphor of life,” said Crawford, who uses roads as a symbol throughout the exhibit. “Roads are our means of interaction with the world. It’s interesting how people’s perceptions of roads have changed. We don’t want to live next to one although it is our means of transportation.”

The 17.3-mile Century Freeway, scheduled to be finished by 1993, will run between Norwalk and Los Angeles International Airport. The Century Freeway exhibit is part of a three-person show at the museum titled, “Interferences/Inferences.”

Crawford, a painter who shows her works in Los Angeles and Orange counties, said she became interested in the freeway a year ago when a friend who was a consultant on the project told her about it. But it was not until March that she started doing in-depth research for the exhibit, gathering statistics and transportation documents.

To show the history of the project, Crawford cites popular tunes from each year, beginning with “American Pie” from 1972, the year the official plans for the freeway began. For each year, she gives a brief summary of the freeway’s progress.

“I want people to come away with an awareness of how they personally interact with a freeway and its structure,” she said. “To make them realize how much money has been spent on this project and how its infrastructure affects them.”

The exhibit is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. through Jan. 4. Admission to the museum, 5029 Pacific Coast Highway, Torrance, is free. Call (310) 375-3775 for information.