Pueblo Gardens - Seven Years of Safe Routes to School & Community Building
Photo by Taylor Miller
This month we’ll be returning to the streets of the Pueblo Gardens Neighborhood with cans of paint, brushes, and a community-based vision of positive change - seven years after the very first “asphalt art” project that we implemented in Tucson came to life right next to the Pueblo Gardens school.
LSA’s initial introduction to the Pueblo Gardens neighborhood was back in 2015 through a CDC-funded grant that explored perceptions of walkability in some of Tucson’s predominantly Mexican-American neighborhoods. We first got connected with a group of neighbors and spent a Saturday morning with them on a ‘Neighborhood Walk & Talk,’ in partnership with UA researchers leading the project. During that time, we came to learn that there was a stellar principal at Pueblo Gardens Elementary, someone who was truly excited about bringing our Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program to a school and neighborhood where many kids walk to school. That fall, Pueblo Gardens School became an LSA “partner school,” and an after-school bike club was launched the following year upon request from the school as one of the first offerings of LSA’s Safe Routes program.
The Pueblo Gardens School Bike Club gathers in the shade (above). The Bike Club hits the streets (below).
As a result of Pueblo Gardens becoming an SRTS partner school, we were able to bring more resources there, one of which was the development of an SRTS ‘Travel Plan.’ Along with consultants from Toole Design, a leading firm specializing in bicycle and pedestrian transportation, we joined school staff and families to observe traffic during school arrival and dismissal and discussed what was working and what could be improved to safely get kids to and from school. The process resulted in an actionable plan with practical recommendations for infrastructure improvements at specific locations around the school.
Photo by Taylor Miller
While advocating for permanent infrastructure improvements identified in the plan, such as a pedestrian crossing island, which was eventually built at Plumer and 36th Street, we also sought funding for lower-cost street transformations that could be implemented more quickly.
One such opportunity arose when we were selected as the recipient of a ‘Kaboom Play Everywhere’ grant in 2016, with a proposal focused on bringing visibility to a school crossing and adding playful elements to a well-traveled school route. We also partnered with local Tucson artist Porter McDonald, who lived right by the school. Porter led a collaborative artwork design process, designing a wall mural that depicts neighborhood stories collected by middle school students through interviews with their family members. Porter also facilitated intersection asphalt murals which were designed by Pueblo Garden 4th and 5th graders and selected through a school-wide contest.
On a sunny November morning in 2016, excitement, laughter, and music filled the streets in front of Pueblo Gardens School as nearly 300 students, inter-generational families, and neighbors came together to transform their streets during the Pueblo Gardens Block Painting Party. The streets received splashes of color as families painted the pavement, sidewalk, and crosswalk along a corridor that so many kiddos traverse by foot. The project, dubbed Playful Gardens, was an act of love conducted by neighbors and a testament to the power of collaboration. Anyone who wanted to could be part of creating this beautiful space for their neighborhood, and as one father said,
“It was a beautiful day; it taught my son how to live together with his community.”
Photo by Taylor Miller
Photo by Taylor Miller
In addition to the continued SRTS programming at Pueblo Gardens, we’re thrilled to be returning to the neighborhood’s streets with another asphalt art project, this time integrated into curb extensions and coupled with a brand-new crosswalk. With generous support from a Safe Routes to Parks grant, through the Safe Routes Partnership, along with the City of Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility, and PSOMAS engineering, this project will once again turn the streets into a community-building canvas for the children, families, and neighbors. Porter is jumping in once again too, again inspired by ideas generated by the students who want to highlight the three essential elements of life: Air, Water, and Earth. In Porter’s own words,
“As pedestrians and cyclists travel to and from school, they will see stripes of bright color swooshing and curving. In and around the stripes, they will see flashes of wildlife on the move as well. Wings flutter, a rodent scurries, a fish splashes, and shells roll in the sea foam.”
The asphalt art by Porter McDonald in planning
Though this new project is similar, we have learned a lot in the years that have passed since our very first asphalt art project in Pueblo Gardens and adjusted our approach to help ensure the longevity of the artworks and enhance the effectiveness of traffic-calming treatments. Meanwhile, most of the kids who were there last time we painted the streets have grown, as has our commitment to cultivating new relationships and making our streets more accessible, sustainable, joyful, and safe for everyone.
Photo by Taylor Miller
