The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and the South of South Neighborhood (SOSNA) are seeking qualifications for a series of street murals near two South Philadelphia elementary schools.
This project will improve the safety of four intersections at two public elementary schools, Edwin Stanton and Chester Arthur (see images below). Specifically, it involves curb “bulb-outs”, highly visible painted pedestrian areas, and vertical delineators to protect the crosswalk areas at four key intersections. This will protect children crossing the street by making them more visible to oncoming traffic, reduce crossing distance, and slow drivers at intersections, making it safer to cross the street.
These bulb-outs will also reduce the crossing distance and crossing time for all pedestrians. Simple, low-cost traffic calming projects such as these have a measurable impact on pedestrian safety. A street mural in each of these protected pedestrian areas will help draw greater awareness to pedestrians and contribute to neighborhood place-making. This crosswalk treatment and street mural will improve the safety for all modes of travel and for people of all sizes. Through the inclusive creative and educational process, we hope to make the community more aware of the importance of traffic safety.
The goals of this initiative are to foster a safer and more pleasant pedestrian environment by creating safe pathways to schools, educate citizens about healthy streetscape design, and create city-wide awareness of innovative traffic-calming measures. We believe that meaningful and impactful street murals will help to achieve these goals. The project will include working with the Streets Department on this prototype project that, if successful, will be used as an example for all of Philadelphia.
Read more about the REVISED RFQ (1/18/2021) and the application process here.
**NEW REVISED RFQ DEADLINE: January 25, 2021
