CLEVELAND — Downtown Cleveland has a new look to it, officially unveiled on Wednesday.
For about a year, the flow of traffic has been reconfigured to flow around new asphalt art. Changes can be seen and felt on Huron Road and at the Huron Road, Prospect Avenue and East 9th Street intersection.
Nine local artists, led by Ryan Jaenke, worked on a 7,500-square-foot mural project that's designed to integrate organic forms of Cleveland's waterways and the geometric forms of the city's infrastructure.
The project was made possible by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which granted Cleveland a $100,000 grant for it.
"It's exciting to finally see it come to fruition," said Downtown Cleveland Inc. CEO Michael Deemer.
While the vibrant colors stand at the forefront for residents and visitors to see, there's an invisible project behind it.
"It's carving out more space that was previously dedicated to vehicles for people to celebrate, to connect, to walk, to bike, to stroll, to eat, to play music, and so this really represents what we see as a very effective strategy and tactic to increase activation downtown," City of Cleveland Director of Planning Calley Mersmann said on Wednesday.
According to an asphalt art study conducted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the paint on the ground can also be connected to increased safety.
The study states that because of asphalt murals, there are:
- 50% fewer crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists
- 30% fewer injury crashes
- 17% fewer total crashes
- 27% more drivers yielding to pedestrians
"The promising findings from this study will inform ongoing discussions on how to revise U.S. roadway engineering guidance to improve safety for the most vulnerable road users," Bloomberg Philanthropies wrote in the study.
Deemer said the asphalt art serves as traffic-calming devices and visual cues for pedestrians as well as drivers to slow down and pay more attention.
"We hope this is one of many more to come," Deemer said.
Deemer acknowledges that not everyone, especially drivers, is too keen on the traffic adjustment that came with this art project.
"There's always some friction when there's change," he said.
But he said it's for the best.
"Safety is the very foundation of everything good that has happened in downtown Cleveland, everything good that we want to see happen, and that includes making the environment safe for pedestrians, automobiles, bicyclists," Deemer said.
An event was held Wednesday evening to announce the completion of the project.
City leaders, residents and artists were in attendance to watch the cutting of the ceremonial ribbon at A.J. Rocco's on Huron Road East.
The mural project isn't the end of beautification and attraction for downtown Cleveland, according to Deemer.
He told me a building mural at the corner of St. Clair Avenue and West 3rd Street is still in progress but should be completed by next week.
The downtown farmer's market and food truck series will now end in October rather than this month.
Public Square will also continue its movie night series Sept. 17.
"A couple of weeks left in the Public Square concert series, so lots more to do and enjoy in downtown Cleveland. The goal of all of this work is to activate downtown, make it feel safer, make it be and feel more connected to drive more growth across downtown," Deemer said.
For more information regarding what's happening in downtown Cleveland, visit Downtown Cleveland Inc.'s website.
