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The Project
The Project
As you may know, pedestrian and bike safety has been a concern since the start of 36th ART (Avenue Revitalization and Transformation). Back in the fall of 2023, in response to a growing number of complaints filed with the City regarding speeding vehicles in our neighborhoods, a community meeting was held at the Hiawatha Collegiate High School (HCHS). We were informed by City officials, including police, city council members and public works officials, that the area wasn’t deemed high priority (among the hundreds of problem areas in the city), and there was little the City could do to allay our concerns. Frustrated, the members of 36th ART approached our city council representatives to discuss alternative strategies for calming traffic along 36th Avenue South – actions that we could take as citizens. For example, could temporary public art installations or other street scape modifications be effective in calming speeding cars? We were given encouragement, but the City told us they couldn’t help us with that. Of course that didn’t stop us.
Mia Bolte had already begun collecting images of street paintings and asphalt art, including custom crosswalks and illusion-based street art. We began wondering what else had been done and had there been any studies on the subject. Jack Becker did a bit of digging, but found nothing of substance. He reached out to a former colleague at the Minnesota Design Center a program housed at the University of Minnesota, to see if they might conduct a pilot study focused on low-cost traffic-calming public art interventions.
For those of you interested in the fast-growing world of street art and asphalt art, here’s a link to a recent presentation of the Public Art Exchange:
Minnesota Design Center (MDC) Partnership
Minnesota Design Center (MDC) Partnership
MDC team members, including Tom Fisher, Nantida Thao and Joseph Hang, were intrigued by the idea, and responded with positive interest. They offered to research the topic of public art and traffic calming, and begin studying the traffic along the 36th Avenue corridor. In addition to collecting data and previously published studies, they purchased a speed radar gun and spent a month in 2024 observing and recording the speeds and behaviors of motorists using 36th Avenue near 28th Street East, outside the high school’s facilities. As part of the study, Nantida and Joseph (pictured left) held a workshop with students studying AP statistics at HCHS. The students were invited to provide input on the topic, as well as discuss issues and traffic and safety concerns facing students and faculty at the school. They created an overlay map of the area surrounding the school and had students place colored dots to designate places they frequented, routes they took to school and places of concern. Students were later offered the opportunity to assist with the radar data collection on the street.
We’re very excited that this partnership has gotten off the ground, and look forward to sharing periodic updates. Here’s the link to MDC’s dataset and analysis. MDC is currently working on compiling a report and will be sharing the materials with us once they’re completed.
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