LYNN – Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative granted $100,000 to Lynn to improve street safety in the community through artistic redesign in the central square.
“Often people think of art as a beautification tool that doesn’t do anything beyond that,” said David Andersson, Manager of the Asphalt Art Initiative. “But, in practice, art can provide quantifiable impacts on safety and community cohesion.”
An initiative that works, according to the initiative’s 2022 Safety Study.
Asphalt Art projects led to a 50% drop in crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists and a 37% increase in drivers yielding to pedestrians with the right-of-way, the study shows.
Bloomberg Associates’ client cities, including Lynn since this year, request support for artistic projects, then implanted onto their streets for improved pedestrian safety.
Andersson explains how artistic installations are good temporary steps for cities to test out improvements in street safety and revitalization that can, potentially, be made permanent.
“Murals on the ground don’t cost that much in the grand scheme of infrastructure projects,” he said. “That creates flexibility for cities.”
Asphalt Art evaluates applications every year, since the commencement of the initiative in October 2019. Lynn is one of ten winning cities for this year’s new $100,000 grants, evaluated for the feasibility of projects and their expected impact for the community.
The project will be deployed in Central Square, a site the Asphalt Initiative team has identified as having a history of unsafe driving and crashes leading to injury. Andersson said the aim is to create a new hub in downtown Lynn for people to gather and be welcomed in the space.
Raw Art Works, a Lynn-based nonprofit, is managing the artistic process.
“Art on the street signals to drivers and to pedestrians that streets are not just intended for cars but they are also public spaces,” Andersson said.
For the first time since the launch of the initiative, Asphalt Art is calling upon TYLin’s technical consultants, a national firm that will track metrics for a customized evaluation plan on the project.
“The goal is to come out of this not only with the impact of the project on the ground, but also to understand what worked and what didn’t, so that the impact story can be shared with other communities,” Andersson explained.
They will provide a “constellation of compelling data,” said Andersson, tracking street safety improvements by measuring traffic speeds and volume, as well as surveying pedestrians directly on their use of the space.
Art has the psychological effect of bringing “life to a street,” he said, combining place making with traffic calming.
“And Lynn is really ripe for this kind of intervention to address street safety for the most vulnerable users of the road,” Andersson concluded.
