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City of Hamilton (2023) Print
2023 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Transportation
└ Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
└ Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Fast traffic and unsafe crossings on State Street and Southside streets made walking hazardous for older adults and residents of an income-restricted housing complex. The city partnered with Bike Walk Bitterroot and Western Transportation Institute to install pop-up traffic calming features, including neighborhood traffic circles and sidewalk extensions with pedestrian refuge islands. Volunteers helped implement the designs after community walk audits. The changes slowed vehicles and improved visibility, making crossings safer for pedestrians. Residents praised the improvements, and the city plans seasonal reinstallation and is exploring permanent solutions based on data and feedback.
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: 2017
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: Organizers with Pigtown Main Street hoped to revitalize the intersection of Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevards. The intersection acts as a gateway to Pigtown, one of Baltimore's most diverse neighborhoods. However, Washington Boulevard is a six-lane divided highway and public spaces along the route have been neglected. To help residents envision street improvements, Pigtown Main Street organized a pop-up event, creating a park at the intersection. Ideas presented included adding curb extensions to help pedestrians cross the street safety, installing bike lanes, reducing the number of travel lanes, displaying public art, creating outdoor seating and eating areas and improving landscaping. Visitors to the pop-up were invited to share their feedback. Organizers set up Dot Boards, which allowed people to place a dot by the photos of activities they'd like to see more of. The top five choices: live performances, outdoor food, parties, art events and outdoor classes.
Malvern, AR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: To improve pedestrian visibility and safety, the Malvern-Hot Spring County Library created a colorful crosswalk. Project organizers report the crosswalk has visibly slowed down approaching traffic. A local group -- the Ouachita River Art Guild -- designed and painted the crosswalk with a floral design. Library also worked with local master gardeners to create a pollinator garden and added a story trail. The trail includes sign posts displaying pages from a children's storybook, which can be rotated out as needed to provide visitors with new reading material.
Honolulu, HI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: Organizers at the Waikiki Community Center at originally planned to beautify Waikiki neighborhoods by painting utility boxes with cultural images. When that project got derailed due to permit challenges, they pivoted to do much needed sidewalk safety and repair -- something local older adults identified as a community need. The Center led a campaign to educate residents of Waikiki on pedestrian safety and worked with volunteers to patch and repair more than 100 damaged areas of sidewalk. Volunteers also beautified the area along sidewalks by refreshing or replacing planter boxes.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Hamilton, MT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: In Montana's Bitterroot Valley, older adults and low-income families faced food insecurity and limited access to fresh produce. The "Veggie Brigade" paired youth farm interns with older adults to grow vegetables in donated yard spaces and community plots. Volunteers built 32 raised beds, distributed thousands of plants and prepared weekly salads and soups for local food assistance clients. The project increased food availability and created intergenerational connections through shared gardening and meal preparation. This has led tohands-on education that will support ongoing efforts to fight food insecurity and strengthen community ties. "Having a young team of Veggie Brigade interns that could clean out our large garden after my husband passed away was so meaningful," one participant said.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Missoula, MT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: Missoula's Transportation Planning hoped to improve safety at a busy intersection in the Riverfront neighborhood, while also giving people a space to gather. First, project organizers asked residents and local business owners for their ideas to improve the streetscape. Ahead of activating the intersection, the city's public works department made upgrades to pavement and water mains. Based on community feedback, Missoula Transportation Planning then created bulb-outs, which extend the curb into the intersection, giving pedestrians extra space, making them more visible to drivers and shortening the distance needed to cross the road. Curb ramps make the crosswalks accessible. To create a seating area, they also created two parklets -- mini-parks that fit in the footprint of on-street parking spaces. The parklets featured art, a space to park bikes and decorative foliage.
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