Chicago, IL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: Chicago's Clark Street commercial district is a busy area for commuters and shoppers. To increase safety, decrease crime and beautify the neighborhood, the Rogers Park Business Alliance created its Cross the Street: Art on Clark project. Organizers painted murals on the pavement at intersections near the local commuter train station, as well as on side streets leading to the Clark Street shopping district. The permanent art installations are meant to encourage drivers to slow down as they approach. Also meant to be a placemaking intervention, the pavement art also encourages pedestrians to engage with local businesses. Since installation, project organizers say Art on Clark has improved economic vitality and public safety in the neighborhood.

River Falls, WI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: A deteriorating intersection identified as a high-risk crash area posed safety challenges for pedestrians and cyclists, including older adults living nearby. The project installed high-visibility crosswalk markings, upgraded buttons with auditory signals and added bollards to create a protected bike lane and pedestrian corridor. Public art and a "paint the pavement" event engaged volunteers and raised awareness. These improvements made the crossing safer and more accessible, connected residents to downtown and trails and informed future bike and pedestrian plans.

Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.

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.