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City of Greensboro Planning Department (2025) Print
2025 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Transportation
└ Pedestrian Safety
└ Pedestrian Safety
Speeding traffic, trucks and bus activity made it risky to cross W. Elmsley Dr., a link to shopping and a transit corridor used by many older adults. The city installed a permanent high-visibility crosswalk with pedestrian-activated flashing lights, ADA ramps and a refuge island, then added a new sidewalk to complete the connection. Walk audits with residents informed the location and built buy-in. During filming, staff saw drivers slow and stop for the beacon, and crossing felt noticeably safer. The project also aligned with plans for higher-frequency transit and spurred interdepartmental coordination on future safety upgrades.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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See More Projects Like This One
Evansville, IN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: This project will add three solar-powered lights to the Greenway north of Lamasco Park, enhancing pedestrian safety. This project aims to provide safer evening access for residents, especially older adults.
Charlotte, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: Charlotte's older adults faced daily risks when navigating unsafe streets, where missing sidewalks, short crossing times and dangerous intersections made routine trips difficult. By speaking with more than 100 residents age 50 and over, the project gathered detailed accounts of these challenges and used them to refine a digital tool that highlights hazardous areas and recommends improvements. Residents' input strengthened the tool's accuracy and helped prompt Charlotte officials to consider it for planning decisions. The effort built trust and gave older adults a clearer voice in shaping safer street design that supports their mobility and confidence.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Eastman, GA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: People walking along a busy corridor faced daily safety risks because the street lacked sidewalks and clear crossings. With no designated space to walk, residents had to navigate traffic near schools and nearby destinations, creating particular challenges for older adults making routine trips on foot. The City of Eastman installed new sidewalks and added painted crosswalks with flashing lights and visible signage. Together, these changes created predictable places to walk and cross where none existed before, reducing conflict between vehicles and pedestrians. The improvements eased daily movement for residents who walk for errands, exercise or to accompany family members. Older adults reported feeling safer using the corridor and more confident navigating the area on foot. The project also accelerated local plans to extend sidewalks on adjacent streets, helping reduce the risk of future pedestrian incidents and reinforcing a longer-term shift toward safer walking conditions.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Greensboro, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Creativity as a Catalyst for Inclusion, a project of the Creative Aging Network, worked to create a community garden and outdoor classroom for community events. Assembling a team of volunteers and community activists, they cleaned up the grounds, built raised garden beds, created walking paths and planted native vegetation. A local artisan created custom benches for the garden, created from the wood of a fallen tree on the property. To bring people into the space, local artists led a series of workshops onsite. Project organizers say activities programmed for the garden are meant to be inclusive and appeal to people of all ages and abilities.
Greensboro, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Walk Audits
Description: This project will partner with neighborhood organizations to conduct two meetings and two walk audits. The project will gather testimony to produce a community walk report for future street and sidewalk plans.
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