Chicago, IL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: To call attention to rough conditions on Chicago's sidewalks and bike routes, the Recyclery Collective commissioned local artists to fill in potholes with mosaics. Project organizers engaged the community to select each installation site. Not only do the colorful mosaics beautify the neighborhood, they also make the pavement easier to navigate. Organizers hope the project brings people together and demonstrates the importance of navigable streets and sidewalks.

Severna Park, MD

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: The Olde Severna Park Improvement Association employed high- and low-tech solutions to improve pedestrian safety in a neighborhood with a senior living facility, library, community recreation center, local gathering spaces and shopping. The organization made bright orange handheld pedestrian flags available at two crosswalks on Evergreen Road. They also added guardrails and planting strips between the sidewalk and street to help protect pedestrians. Other improvements include school crossing signage, arrows and a flashing pedestrian-activated beacon. All provide a collective alert to drivers to watch out for people traveling on foot.

Starkville, MS

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: Community-based organization Keep Starkville Beautiful updated a busy transportation corridor to calm traffic, increase safety and make the area more pleasant. The organization repaired a crumbling retaining wall and added built-in planters and pollinator patch gardens. A local artist created a colorful pavement pattern in the intersection of Whitfield and Scales Streets. Keep Starkville Beautiful also made improvements to a bus stop, installing a new ADA-compliant seating and waiting area and adding an arbor framed by planters to provide shade. Local residents provided much of the labor for the upgrades during community work days.