The Project

The Leading with Love mural at the Lahser Triangle in Northwest Detroit is the final touch on a community-based safety and walkability project years in the making. With the Redford Theater, the Artist Village, Detroit Blight Busters and long-time businesses like Sweet Potato Sensations, the Old Redford commercial district is a hub for community conversations, arts and resilience. At its heart, the angled intersection of Redford St with Lahser Rd, high vehicle counts and excessive speeding created an unsafe pedestrian environment in an otherwise walkable district. In 2020, during a local public art planning process, residents prioritized this intersection for a mural plaza that would create new pedestrian space, shorten crossing distances and slow car traffic. Winning an Asphalt Art Initiative grant allowed the City to secure additional funds to install a grade-separated plaza and landscaping in advance of the final mural. Per the Old Redford Public Art plan, an artist advisory group led by the Old Redford Business Association selected the artist and design. The project is a tribute to the power of community building when leading with love.

• 40% reduction in crossing distance
• 2 new crosswalks
• 1,700 square feet of roadway reclaimed for pedestrians

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The Project

The “Heading to School” project in Mocochá aimed to improve school-area safety by promoting active mobility and expanding access for pedestrians and cyclists. The Asphalt Art project specifically focused on safe pedestrian crossings, sidewalk extensions, and street murals, and resulted in improved traffic management and safety, road safety education, and a stronger shared identity in school zones.

The project encouraged community involvement and inter-institutional collaboration, ultimately creating a safer and more respectful environment for everyone. Artists were selected through participatory workshops where community members contributed ideas inspired by local Yucatán vegetation and animals such as lizards, birds, and colibríes. The community actively engaged in the design and installation phases, organizing into teams to support work shifts—even at night to avoid the daytime heat. Installation prioritized road safety markings at school intersections before adding the vibrant artistic elements that enhanced identity and promoted safety awareness.

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Press

“Safe School Environments,” An Exemplary Pedestrian And Road Safety Project In Mocochá (Yucas Al Día, March 15, 2025)

The Project

As part of London Design Festival, 11 crosswalks on Tottenham Court Road and a pedestrian plaza and crosswalk in the City of London were reimagined with distinctive, playful designs featuring bright colors and shapes. The artistic direction for the project was led by London-based artist Yinka Ilori, who worked with three art students from the University of the Arts London to develop some of the crosswalk designs, as well as community members invited to help paint the Queen Street pedestrian area. As the UK prepared to host the United Nation’s meeting on Climate Action, COP26, this project is one of several installations in international cities supported by the Asphalt Art Initiative to encourage more sustainable transportation and transform and revitalize public spaces through the power of art.

• 79% of pedestrians said these colorful crossings improve the local environment and feel of the street.
• Over half of pedestrians feel safer using these colorful crossings compared to normal pedestrian crossings.

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Best Practice Highlight – Aligning with City Priorities: Recovery

The ‘Bring London Together’ project sought to aid the reopening and recovery of London after the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing colour, life, and vibrancy to the streets of the City. The asphalt art installation was launched as part of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s “Let’s Do London” tourism campaign to support the capital’s creative, retail and hospitality sectors which were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The domestic tourism campaign was the largest in London’s history, bringing together London’s leading hospitality, culture and retail organizations to offer an autumn season of design, fashion, film, art, and photography events welcoming City workers, Londoners and visitors back to the capital.

The Project

The Club Crossing project aimed to create a fun and welcoming street environment for elementary school students, families, and residents to cross to the Club Boulevard Elementary School, Northgate Park, and the Ellerbe Creek Trail. The project activated the intersection and travel lanes by adding artwork to the crosswalks in front of Club Boulevard Elementary, reducing speeding on West Club Boulevard, and increasing yielding to pedestrians crossing. Based on responses from 1,800+ residents through an online community vote held in January and February of 2021, Candy Carver was selected to paint her winning design out of five designs created by local and regional artists. Carver worked with community members and stakeholders to refine her crosswalk design, and together with 39 volunteers installed the mural over the course of two days. The mural, “Our Oasis,” depicts blue motifs and reminds residents of the nearby creek and surrounding natural environment with colorful fish guiding the way.

• Potentially dangerous conflicts between drivers and pedestrians crossing the street decreased by 30%.
• The percentage of people who felt unsafe crossing fell from 85% to 6%.
• Community members who felt positively about the site rose from 4% to 77%.

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Best Practice Highlight: Community Surveys

The City of Durham engaged community members throughout the design process by using various forms of surveys and community conversations. Through an initial survey, the City collected feedback from residents on usage and perception of the site, as well as what kinds of design interventions were desired. Five finalist artists were selected by a panel of community members and organizations and commissioned to create designs that responded to the needs and preferences of the community. This process culminated in a vote drawing in 1,826 responses, selecting Candy Carver’s crosswalk mural of colorful oceanic patterns and fish as the winner. Post installation, a school-day walking event was hosted for 160+ students to meet the artist and representatives from the East Coast Greenway, Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, Bike Durham, and the Durham Park Foundation who discussed public art, street safety, nature, trail and park use, and connectivity throughout Northgate Park.

Press

Durham seeks community input on future crosswalk art along West Club Boulevard (WTVD-TV (ABC), November 9, 2020)

Best Practice Highlight: Adapting the Design to Rising Challenges

The intersection in front of the Transit Center is heavily used by cars, buses, and pedestrians, so a balance had to be struck between closing the intersection for long enough to appropriately install George Bates’ design and keeping traffic disruption to a minimum. Artworks and Bates worked together with City officials and determined that their team could execute the mural painting over 16 hours on a weekend (12 hours the first day, 4 the second). The City coordinated this closure and Bates adapted his original design to be able to be more efficiently installed, making the shapes larger and with fewer overlaps. The first install day began with laying down coats of a yellow base, chalk grid and design lines, and then teams of volunteers were assigned a color to paint the silhouettes (one volunteer creating the outline edge with a small roller, another with a larger roller filling big spaces and others with brushes completing edges and detail work). Halfway through the first day, Bates removed some elements from his design, determining this would not reduce the overall impact of the design but would buy crucial time to complete the installation.

Artist Testimonial

Press

“Stepping into Tomorrow”: A Trenton Public Art Project (Trenton Daily, July 6, 2021)

The Project

The University Drive Corridor Connections helps connect the one mile stretch between downtown Starkville and the Mississippi State University (MSU) campus by adding new, artful intersection murals at three locations and crosswalks at nine key intersections. The mural and crosswalk series progressively leads pedestrians along the corridor, creating a safe and attractive means of connecting Downtown, Midtown, and the Cotton District.

Community input was achieved through several surveys that helped refine the design process and ultimately focus on a cowbell theme. Cowbells are a signature MSU icon and strengthen the identity of both community and campus. The cowbells progressively line the crosswalks and intersections along University Drive in this asphalt art project.

Mayor Lynn Spruill decided to involve the community in the painting process by hosting a community-wide event, called “Cowbells and Paint Pails,” which included bands performing while people painted. The outlines of the cowbell shapes were created using thermoplastic for longevity, and the colors were added by volunteers using using a low-VOC and biodegradable soy-based paint. Free t-shirts were given to participants, and food and beverages were also provided. MSU provided an attractive street “barricade” in the form of its maroon streetcar. This served as an attractive backdrop for the painting, while deterring traffic during painting.

The success of these murals  in Starkville inspired an initiative to implement asphalt art in eleven communities throughout Mississippi, as part of the USDA Rural Partners Network Project.

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Press

“Cowbells and Paint Pails” Paints murals on university drive (Starkville Daily News, August 6, 2022)

Intersections turning into art in Starkville (WTVA, August 4, 2022)

From the Gallery (MSU, August 2022)

Street art strengthens MSU-Starkville bonds (MSU, July 2022)

Starkville seeks input on future street art project (The Dispatch, January 28, 2022)

Starkville to receive a grant from the Bloomberg Asphalt Art Initiative Grant (WCBI, October 21, 2021)

The Project

In East Providence, Rhode Island, Mercer Street divides the Hennessey Elementary School from the Pierce Field athletic complex commonly used by the school community and surrounding neighborhood residents. With cracked sidewalks and lacking designated pedestrian crosswalks, the street did not provide a safe and walkable environment for students, families, and educators, as well as neighborhood residents walking and biking in the area. To address these challenges, the City of East Providence partnered with the East Providence Arts Council to commission local artist Anna Dugan to design five whimsical crosswalk murals through a community engaged design process. These colorful crosswalks were installed along Mercer Street with the participation of over 70 volunteers to provide safe, welcoming connections between the school and the recreation center. The new public art works catalyzed further improvements in the area, including the installation of new concrete sidewalks and additional street tree plantings.

• The percentage of people who reported feeling safe as a pedestrian increased from 59% to 91%
• Positive perception of the street rose significantly, with the percentage of people who “like the way the project area looks” increasing from 20% to 93%

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Press

East Providence’s ‘Asphalt Art Initiative’ is completed at Hennessey Elementary (East Bay RI, September 14, 2022)

The Project

With “Vereda Florida,” a previously gray and unwelcoming part of the city was transformed into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly corridor. 

For the mural design, ideas were generated through a series of workshops held with 30 students from Universidad Tec de Oriente. The artist then generated two proposals from among these ideas that were then put to a vote on social media and through street surveys. The winning design is a commemoration of the victims of femicide in the state of Puebla, and features women with flowers flowing from their hair.  For each street corner, a unique character with a native flower was created, thus unifying the design across the 11 corners. The murals were installed over 4 days with the help of more than 200 volunteers. 

Along with the murals, pedestrian areas were protected and parking was better organized, and the area was enhanced with new benches and planters filled with pollinating flowers and trees.  The result saw a more inviting place for people to rest and enjoy, as well as a successful reduction in vehicular speeds, “near misses,” and crossing distances at most intersections.

• Average car speeds within the corridor were reduced by 61%.
• Pedestrian and green areas were nearly doubled, increasing from 23% to 41% of the total space on the street

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Best Practice Highlight: Aligning with Permanent Infrastructure Improvements

Close collaboration between Ciudad Activa and the Municipal Authorities of Puebla City was crucial to integrating permanent infrastructure improvements alongside the ‘Vereda Florida’ asphalt art. Collaboration began early in the planning stages at project conception, to align artistic vision with design goals focused on pedestrian safety. Through multiple consultations with local business owners and ongoing reviews of the design, the artwork was strategically placed in such a way as to feature the largest part of the murals at the intersections that were geometrically redesigned and enhanced with the new curb installations and planters to protect pedestrian areas. These physical improvements were implemented by the municipal government as part of a larger urban renewal effort, transforming the area into a more vibrant, pedestrian-friendly space.

Press

Aaron Merino Murals || News with Juan Carlos Valerio (Imagen Televisión, September 9, 2024)

Aaron Merino Remodeling || News with Juan Carlos Valerio (Imagen Televisión, August 27, 2024)

The Project

This project aimed to enhance road safety in the school community of “La Coruña / Andrés Molina” in Iztacalco, Mexico City. In collaboration with the Mobility Secretariat, BIGRS, and local schools, workshops were conducted to educate and engage the community, including seven workshops specifically for teachers and families, and 23 workshops for children focusing on traffic awareness and safety in their surroundings.

The installation covered two key intersections near the school, serving approximately 3,000 students. Sidewalks were expanded at corners, pedestrian crossings were made safer, and bollards were installed to define the improved spaces. The murals were incorporated to visually reinforce and enhance the safety components.

With the support of the educational community, the project created a safer, more accessible school environment while fostering a culture of road safety awareness, prevention, and respect among all those who use the streets.

In the mornings during school drop off: 

• The average vehicular speed at the intersection decreased by 19%
• The average motorcycle speed at the intersection decreased by 17%
• The average heavy vehicle speed at the intersection decreased by 8%

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The Project

Historically a high-speed thoroughfare, South 28th Street lacked safe access to the Parkland Business District that offers a rich concentration of amenities, including a market, childcare centers, restaurants, a library, a community garden, and the newly completed Parkland Plaza. While the neighborhood continues to heal from historic disinvestment, pedestrian safety remains a challenge. Now, Louisville’s first-ever street mural project addresses these historical challenges with colorful public art, thermoplastic crosswalks, and curb extensions that increase visibility for motorists and create safer pathways for pedestrians and cyclists.

Local artists installed designs at seven intersections, guided by a color palette shaped through community input. Residents engaged in local events provided feedback on colors, themes, and their perceptions of safety along South 28th Street, ensuring the project reflected the neighborhood’s identity while improving accessibility for all.

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Press

Asphalt Art Project Brings Color, Increases Safety In Louisville’s Parkland Neighborhood (WDRB, December 16, 2024)

Parkland Asphalt Art Project Completed, Creating More Vibrant And Safer Streets (Louisvilleky.gov, December 12, 2024)

Louisville’s First Street Mural, Painted Crosswalks Installed In Parkland Neighborhood (Courier-Journal, October 24, 2024)

Reducing Car Accidents Through Public Art (Spectrum News 1, September 22, 2024)