When the Florida Department of Transportation ordered cities to remove pavement art in August — and targeted a rainbow sidewalk which honored victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting — they said the decision was rooted in “safety.”
But studies have shown that colorful roadways actually enhance safety by drawing drivers’ eyes to the road and forcing them to slow down. And now, road art is saving lives in the heart of Athens, on the busiest street in Kaisariani, Greece.
The intersection of Ethnikis Antistaseos and Filadelfias was home to a nursery, primary school, a retirement community — and near-constant car crashes.
That’s when Asphalt Arts stepped in. The grant program, funded by the charitable organization Bloomberg Philanthropies, is dedicated to improving roadways around the globe by transforming dangerous sites into beautiful community art projects.
Since 2020, Asphalt Arts has completed over 90 street transformations across 20 countries. With each project, they seek to improve street safety, revive underutilized public spaces, and foster civic engagement.
In a press release, Janette Sadik-Khan, principal for transportation at Bloomberg Associates, called it a “life-saving movement.”
“As the cities around the world fight against traffic deaths, the Asphalt Art Initiative shows how much progress you can make with a fresh coat of paint and fresh thinking about how to design streets that are safer for everyone,” said Sadik-Khan.
In Kaisariani, the program assembled a team of urban planners, architects, and designers to redesign the intersection with safety in mind. They also included a group of local schoolchildren, who brought their vision of a colorful city to life.
After buckets of paint and freshly installed traffic barriers, the project dramatically reduced the risk of traffic accidents without the cost of upending and rebuilding entire city blocks of concrete sidewalks.
In just a few days, the newly painted intersection boasted wider walking paths and improved the crosswalk visibility for pedestrians and drivers alike.
“We tried to use colors which are bright but not disorienting, because the idea was to bring out the kids’ drawings,” designer Antonia Michalakakou told Bloomberg, in reference to the bright orange, yellow, and blue hues.
On the day of the redesign, local teacher Stella Moisi was happy to roll up her sleeves and help paint the children’s designs of stars, sunbeams, and robots. She was surrounded by her students, who brandished paint rollers and brushes and gasped as their art sprang to life on the pavement.
“It’s a street that students cross often,” Moisi smiled. “Which is why we are delighted to decorate it.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the 2024 Art Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image via Asphalt Arts / Bloomberg Philanthropies
