Dive Brief:
- Qualifying cities can now apply for up to $100,000 each from Bloomberg Philanthropies to undertake “asphalt art” projects on their streets, the organization announced last week.
- This year’s competition is open to cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico with populations greater than 50,000. The amount is a significant increase from previous years’ awards of $25,000 each.
- Cities must apply by Jan. 31, 2025. Bloomberg Philanthropies will announce up to 10 winning cities next spring, and projects will be installed in 2025 and 2026.
Dive Insight:
Bloomberg’s Asphalt Art Initiative launched in 2019 to help cities leverage art and community engagement to make streets safer and revitalize public spaces. The initiative has supported 90 projects in North America and Europe since then, according to a press release. Asphalt art can increase safety by changing the shape of a street to encourage more cautious driving or, by calling attention to crosswalks, intersections, plazas and other road infrastructure, providing a clear reminder for drivers that they are sharing roads with pedestrians and cyclists, Bloomberg Philanthropies says.
A 2022 study produced in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies found traffic safety improvements across 22 U.S. asphalt art projects, with a 50% drop in crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists and a 27% increase in drivers immediately yielding to pedestrians who had the right of way.
In December 2023, the Department of Transportation issued newly revised federal road design guidelines that for the first time explicitly mention asphalt art projects and define some parameters for them, according to a Washington Post opinion piece written by two Bloomberg Associates advisers.
For example, cities shouldn’t impede the ability of pedestrians who are blind or low-vision to use tactile bumps for crosswalks, and they shouldn’t include designs that could be confused for other street markings, like those indicating a bike lane, official agency logos or traffic control symbols. Ads also are not allowed, according to the 11th edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
“Unless your project included painting a giant stop sign in the middle of the street, you should be able to find a way to make it work with the new MUTCD,” Bloomberg Philanthropies says on its website.
However, as more autonomous vehicles take to the roads, some worry that AVs won’t be able to distinguish pedestrians from asphalt art colors and designs, according to biking advocacy organization PeopleForBikes. The group, which supports asphalt art projects, also pointed to criticisms that such projects require ongoing upkeep.
Cities that receive grants from the Asphalt Art Initiative will receive on-call technical assistance from the firm Street Plans as well as help evaluating their plans’ impacts from Sam Schwartz Consulting. The larger individual awards will invite “even larger and more ambitious” projects, Bloomberg Philanthropies said in a press release. It is holding a virtual information session on the upcoming competition on Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. ET.
