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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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Baltimore, MD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: Mount Clare Community Council addressed unsafe sidewalks that made everyday walking difficult for residents, particularly older adults and people with disabilities who rely on foot travel to reach bus stops, gardens and nearby services. Years of deferred maintenance had left cracked pavement, missing curb ramps and hazardous waiting areas along key routes. The Council completed targeted repairs to more than 1,200 square feet of sidewalks, including rebuilding an ADA ramp, fixing sidewalks in front of homes owned by retired residents and improving access at a busy bus stop and a community garden. The work removed long-standing trip hazards and restored code-compliant access where it was most urgently needed. One retired homeowner sent a brief message of thanks after the sidewalk in front of her home was fixed. The project made daily trips safer and supported ongoing efforts to secure broader, city-led sidewalk improvements.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
San Antonio, TX
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: This project will install two artistic crosswalks on Blanco Road to enhance pedestrian safety and mobility. These crosswalks will benefit local residents, including older adults, by creating vibrant, inviting pathways.
Chicago, IL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: This project will transform the intersection of Devon and Magnolia with colorful, artistic crosswalks to slow traffic and enhance pedestrian safety.
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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