Tucson, AZ

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: With brightly painted asphalt, street furniture and large urns hosting potted cacti and other native plants, Tucson's Living Streets Alliance transformed the intersection of 6th Avenue and 7th Street, an area known locally as Corbett Porch. For years, the intersection had been dangerous ground for pedestrians and cyclists. By using inexpensive materials -- such as paint, planters and pliable posts -- to narrow the roadway and create a new, street-adjacent public space, the porch became a street for people. Where only 1 in 4 drivers previously stopped at the intersection's stop signs, a survey found that more than 1 in 3 were obeying the law. Meanwhile, Tucsonans flocked to the public space. Until it was removed to make way for a permanent reconfiguration, the project proved to be such a popular place to see and be seen, it even got its own hashtag: CorbettPorch.

Denver, CO

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: Denver's Federal Boulevard is one of the city's deadliest routes, with a traffic fatality rate 20 times higher than the average for urban streets in Colorado. To demonstrate simple improvements to make walking and biking safer, WalkDenver held a daylong tactical urbanism event near Regis University. Using pastel-painted tires, traffic cones, flowerpots and hay bales, project organizers set up temporary bike lanes, curb extensions and traffic islands along Federal Boulevard. To determine the efficacy of the street calming interventions, they collected data on vehicle speeds and surveyed pedestrians during the pop-up. Ahead of the event, project organizers hosted a walk with local leaders, allowing them to experience the challenge of walking along Federal Boulevard. The nearby neighborhoods are home to college students who regularly walk and bike, as well as a high concentration of older adults and residents with disabilities.

Columbia, MO

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: Many of Columbia's sidewalks and bike lanes are outdated and substandard. To make the community aware of needed pedestrian infrastructure improvements, Columbia PedNet created a pop-up demonstration kit. Outfitted with traffic cones, paint, stencils, signs and other supplies, the kit allows local advocates to make temporary changes to the streetscape. Project organizers then worked with residents and the city's Public Works Department to stage two demonstrations to reduce vehicle speeds, making walking and cycling safer. Project organizers report many residents attended the events and gave their feedback on how to make streets safer. Columbia PedNet has more demonstrations planned and hopes to work with the City to make pop-ups part of its neighborhood traffic calming program.