There’s a new street safety initiative coming to downtown Rochester.
The Downtown SmART Streets program is led by the nonprofit transportation organization Reconnect Rochester, and it will combine traffic-calming infrastructure with public art.
Project Manager Lourdes Sharp said the initiative involves murals at the intersections painted by local artists, as well as traffic-calming measures such as plastic bollards that will be put up in the intersections on a seasonal basis.
“And those bollards are actually, they are pretty durable,” Sharp said. “You can drive right over those and they usually pop right back up. And so in terms of emergency vehicle access, they're still able to come right up to the curb through this temporary style installation.”
The first two intersections to get this treatment are East Main and Gibbs Streets, and Broad and Fitzhugh Streets.
Sharp said the local artists will tailor themes for the murals to the surrounding neighborhoods.
“So for instance, if we were going to look at East Main and Gibbs, we’ve got the Eastman School of Music right there, this is central to the location of the Jazz Fest, the Fringe Fest,” said Sharp. “And so we really wanted the artists to play on some of those themes that are already embodying the spirit of that area.”
The intersection at Broad and Fitzhugh will include artwork focusing on the nearby aqueduct and former subway area.
Reconnect Rochester notes that an average of 13 people walking or biking are killed on local roads each year. Sharp said the concept for this project takes some ideas used in a similar program in Washington, D.C.
