New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) was upgrading the area within their designation around the southern end of Princes Street under the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Princes Street provides vehicle, cycle and pedestrian access to local residential dwellings, Stokes Point Reserve / Te Onewa and a connection to Queens Street and the wharf. Princes Street also provides access to the underside of the bridge for essential maintenance works to the bridge.

The design intent is to create a strong visual and physical connection to the reserve, harbour and coastal edge, as well as a celebration of the important local history and culture. The project team identified the opportunity to celebrate several writers of national significance who have local connections to Auckland/Tamaki Makaurau and the North Shore.

Boffa Miskell developed a process to work with local iwi representatives and local literary experts, to select the writers and literary excerpts. Permissions were obtained from the estates of the writers, and artist Catherine Griffiths was commissioned to design the layout of the poetry text.

Specialist signage companies Signright and Designcraft were commissioned to install the work. This included creating templates based on the design used for masking the bridge columns and the application of the painted lettering.