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The Heartlands (2025) Print
2025 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Transportation
└ Pedestrian Safety
└ Pedestrian Safety
The Heartlands addressed pedestrian safety concerns inside its local living community for older adults, where residents regularly walk through a busy internal intersection with limited visibility and unclear wayfinding. Long identified as a need, the project added a highly visible three dimensional crosswalk and new directional signage to slow traffic and help residents and visitors navigate the campus more safely. Volunteers and staff also completed landscaping and tree planting to improve comfort and visibility along walking routes. The changes created clearer paths and greater peace of mind for residents who spend time outdoors, and reinforced existing efforts to encourage walking and daily activity. One volunteer noted how the new crosswalk created a safe, clearly marked path that made residents feel more confident being active outside.
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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Saltillo, MS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: The city will extend sidewalks from a recent downtown rebuild into nearby blocks. Continuous walkways will improve safety and strengthen access to local businesses while continuing current projects that are underway.
Los Angeles, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: Older adults faced safety risks when parked cars blocked visibility at crosswalks, even after a new daylighting law was adopted. Outreach was challenging in communities experiencing fear and disruption tied to enforcement activity. Los Angeles Walks used small, trust-based workshops and walk audits to explain daylighting through arts-based activities and bilingual discussion rather than ticketing. One organizer noted that older adults still found ways to lead quiet, neighbor-to-neighbor education. The project strengthened understanding of daylighting and supported continued advocacy for safer intersections.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Leland, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: Crossing busy roads near parks and community facilities had been difficult for many residents, especially older adults who needed more time and clearer cues to navigate traffic safely. To address this, the Town of Leland installed highly visible pedestrian safety beacons at a key crossing near destinations frequently used by older adults, including a community center and public park. The improvements alert drivers and create a more predictable crossing environment, reducing uncertainty for people walking across the roadway. Town staff report that older adults now feel more confident reaching programs, recreation and social activities on foot, and nearby facilities are seeing increased use. The project has also shaped local planning, giving the town a tested model for expanding pedestrian safety improvements to other locations as part of its ongoing walkability efforts.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Ortonville, MI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Expanding High-Speed Internet
Description: The project will add free public Wi-Fi and age-friendly digital access along Mill Street. Workshops will help older adults connect to health care and community life online and participate more fully downtown.
Flint, MI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: To make the Footbridge Park Plaza safer and more inviting, the Carriage Town Neighborhood Association added benches, trash receptacles and a dog clean-up station to the space. They also upgraded lighting, allowing visitors to more safely use the plaza at night. Many Carriage Town residents use the footbridge to walk to and from Flint's downtown. After the improvements, project organizers polled locals and found 80 percent said they were more likely to use the plaza. Neighbors have since begun work on a second plaza nearby.
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