Colorful Tampa School Crosswalk Features Popular Book Titles

TAMPA, FL — Broward Elementary School students who walk to school will be treated to a colorfully painted crosswalk featuring popular book titles.

As part of Mayor Jane Castor’s commitment to Vision Zero, a nationwide initiative to end pedestrian and bicycle deaths and injuries on roadways, the city of Tampa unveiled its fifth Crosswalks to Classrooms project on the first day back at school in Hillsborough County Monday.

Artist Jay Giroux of the READ Movement painted the crosswalk mural featuring designs book titles selected by the school at the crosswalk at West Osborne and North Ola avenues.

The Art on the Block project is intended to bring art and artists into the neighborhoods. The inaugural Art on the Block project was a mural painted by Tampa artists Tony and Junior Moore at Al Barnes Park last October to pay tribute to Barnes, a beloved educator, mentor, coach and family man.

The colorful crosswalk murals have the added benefit of reducing accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists, according to Vision Zero.

Although there have been no substantive studies, Smart Growth America said there is evidence that a colorful mural painted in a crosswalk instead of the usual yellow stripes is more visible to drivers. Drivers tend to slow down when approaching a crosswalk mural, reducing the chances of hitting a pedestrian.

Castor is convinced. She's approved the painting of multiple crosswalk murals throughout the city in the past year as part of her Transforming Tampa’s Tomorrow initiative.

In addition to the crosswalk murals, other Vision Zero safety improvements taking place citywide include reducing speed limits, adding stop signs, which are proven to reduce crashes at intersections by up to 70 percent, and redesigning roads as Complete Streets.

The Complete Streets movement calls for redesigning roads so all modes of transportation can safely share them. This includes adding bike lanes or shared lane markings, reducing lanes to slow traffic, constructing sidewalks and adding amenities for bus riders.

Joining Castor for the official unveiling of the crosswalk mural will be Tampa City Councilman Guido Maniscalco, Broward Elementary School Principal Angela Livingston, artist Jay Giroux and Tampa Mobility Department Director Vik Bhide.

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