A once-overlooked intersection on Rochester’s East Side is getting a new look — and a new purpose — after community members, volunteers and city crews installed safety upgrades and a colorful mural at Avenue D and Hollenbeck Street.
The redesign was part of the Complete Streets Makeover, led by Reconnect Rochester in partnership with Stantec, an engineering and design consulting firm that worked closely with residents to address traffic challenges. The community project, held Saturday, involved adding temporary posts and curb bump-outs to slow traffic and improve visibility, with the goal of reducing collisions at the offset intersection.
Lourdes Sharp, project manager with Reconnect Rochester, said the improvements were shaped by residents’ concerns about crashes and unsafe crossing conditions. Because Avenue D is a major collector road — carrying moderate traffic volumes between neighborhood streets and larger roads — city policy prohibits using permanent speed bumps.
“The mural itself is a traffic-calming feature. We weren't able to put speed bumps on temporary speed runs on Avenue D,” she said. “The city has a policy against major collector roads for temporary speed bumps, and Avenue D is a major collector road. So the engineers at Stantec really got creative with some of their design to still try to slow down traffic without the help of those speed bumps.”
Sharp said the mural and other additions were designed to reflect what neighbors wanted and to make the intersection feel safer.
Rory Weilnau, a transportation engineer at Stantec, said the intersection’s offset layout posed a unique challenge for vehicles trying to navigate it safely.
“I really hope that it creates a sense of community, and it actually makes people realize that this is a place and not just a street,” he said.
The project also included a student-designed mural featuring butterflies and garden imagery, which brings color and meaning to the intersection. Local artist TaQiyya “Ty” Burrs, who worked with neighborhood children to create the artwork, said the project was driven by the community’s sense of unity.
“We sat and spoke with the neighborhood committee, and the kids in the neighborhood, and asked them what they wanted to see,” she said. “And it was a lot of unity, a lot of Kwanzaa, a lot of butterflies, sports, music — all of the things that kind of bring us together.”
The Avenue D and Hollenbeck improvements are part of a broader effort to reduce traffic fatalities and encourage active transportation in Rochester.
This initiative arrives amid a broader U.S. trend: pedestrian death rates have climbed roughly 50% between 2013 and 2022, according to the CDC.
