TAMPA – For years, Tampa city officials have struggled to find a way to keep pedestrians safe as its downtown core draws more people.
It’s a conundrum that’s consistently landed Tampa near the top of national rankings among the deadliest cities for pedestrians and bicyclists. But Tampa artist Meaghan Farrell Scalise and the Tampa Downtown Partnership are hoping their latest project will prove that making the city’s streets safer doesn’t have to take millions of dollars or years-long infrastructure projects.
“The goal is to find a way to help improve safety, which everybody wants, but maybe do it in a way that’s quicker than a big, major infrastructure project and would cost less money,” said Ashly Anderson, director of marketing and design for the Tampa Downtown Partnership. “Through Vision Zero we’re finding cool incremental changes we can make in our downtown, sometimes just in a weekend, that can have a real big impact.”