In November 2024, Reconnect Rochester organized a street walk through downtown Rochester with our Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to select locations for the inaugural year of our Downtown SmART Streets program. There were eight possible locations scheduled which met the criteria of high pedestrian volume, safety concerns, and proximity to busy areas.
From these eight locations, our CAC team looked for the two spots that were good candidates for design improvement potential via curb extension murals. The curb extensions are meant to slow down vehicle turns and shorten crosswalks, ensuring pedestrians spend less time in the road—making every step across the street safer. The murals, inspired by Washington DC’s Arts in the Right of Way program, add a splash of creativity while drawing further focus to pedestrian zones.
Without Further Ado, Our Selections!
Why East Main & Gibbs?
Due to its immediate proximity to the Eastman School of Music with all its associated student housing, as well as its adjacency to Rochester’s East End neighborhood, not to mention the half mile walk to the RTS Transit Center or Jazz & Fringe festivals, East Main & Gibbs St would certainly qualify as a pedestrian heavy zone. Car speeds and the width of the road itself show strong potential for design improvement for the numerous daily pedestrians. Plus this intersection is no stranger to on-street art installations.
Why West Broad & Fitzhugh?
Just down the road from Blue Cross Arena, the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, the Genesee River, and local government buildings, West Broad and Fitzhugh is a vibrant area of downtown Rochester with heavy pedestrian traffic which would benefit strongly from safer pedestrian infrastructure. This is a large intersection with ample asphalt, offering an opportunity to optimize space for all road users.
Next Steps…
The design team at GPI is creating renderings for E. Main & Gibbs and W. Broad & Fitzhugh featuring curb extensions. Once the plans are ready, Rochester’s Traffic Control Board will conduct a site review to determine if these proposals get the green light.
We’re now accepting local artist submissions in response to our RFQ to design vibrant murals that will breathe life into the curb extensions. Partnering with local artist Shawn Dunwoody, we’ll select mural design concepts and plan for their seamless implementation. After final approvals from both the CAC and the Traffic Control Board, we’ll gather data on vehicle speeds and pedestrian activity to measure the real impact of these changes.
This temporary on-street project will debut this summer. Keep an eye out for updates!
In the U.S., pedestrian fatalities have skyrocketed, increasing by 75% since 2010. According to our Monroe County Crash Map, on average, thirteen people die walking or biking on our local streets every year. In 2023, this number rose to 20 fatalities. We must do better.
So what are the solutions to change this trajectory and reduce the harm? On-street demonstration projects are one way to highlight the importance of improving safety by designing our streets for people (not just cars). That’s why in 2025, Reconnect Rochester launched a new on-street project centered in downtown Rochester, complementing our Complete Streets Makeover where we transform intersections in Rochester’s neighborhoods.
Downtown SmART Streets, inspired by Washington DC’s Arts in the Right of Way program, implements complete street design in the form of seasonal curb extension murals to improve pedestrian safety and beautify the streetscape.
What Are Curb Extensions?
Curb extensions, also known as bulb-outs, are sidewalk widenings that extend into the roadway at intersections. These features help:
Slow down vehicle turns by narrowing the space available, encouraging safer and slower driving behavior.
Shorten crosswalk distances so pedestrians spend less time in the road, reducing the risk of collisions.
The combination of physical and visual cues promote traffic calming measures and make streets safer for pedestrians, as well as for cyclists and drivers on the road.
Safety doesn’t have to come at the cost of beauty. We enhance curb extensions with vibrant murals designed by local artists to draw attention to pedestrian zones, further encouraging drivers to slow down and stay alert. The artistry beautifies the space with designs that reflect an area’s identity and sense of place.
How Do We Decide Project Locations?
The Downtown SmART Streets project is informed by a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) made up of a diverse set of downtown Rochester stakeholders and community partners.
We facilitate a “Street Walk” whereby CAC members document observations at each of the 8-10 viable locations that have been vetted by City of Rochester staff. An evaluation tool incorporates strategies and checklists informed by the Ground Mural Best Practices Guide.
Following the Street Walk, the CAC convenes for a selection review meeting. The group selects a location(s) based on the results of the Street Walk, as well as the secondary criteria data prepared by the Reconnect team such as crash safety data.
When selecting project locations, we focus on spots with safety concerns that have potential for design improvement. Proximity to busy areas and areas on major RTS lines or the Transit Center are other considerations due to high pedestrian density, and traffic volume.
A Safer Street Design
Once a location(s) is selected, our awesome design firm partner, GPI, gets to work drafting a design rendering to show where street murals could go to make it a safer, more comfortable place for pedestrians to travel. The design is reviewed by the City’s Traffic Control Board to make sure it allows for safe travel for all road users.
Meanwhile, an RFQ process facilitated by Dunwoode Design, is conducted to select a local artist for the project that will create mural artwork that reflects the character and history of the immediate area.
There’s much to coordinate for the installation regarding paint requirements and logistics, purchasing equipment and materials, and event permitting via the City of Rochester’s DES department. Our CAC members help out with outreach to area residents, businesses and stakeholders to get their input, address any concerns, and build excitement for the project.
Finally, speed and pedestrian count data is collected pre- and post-installation to measure project impact. We want to show our intervention is successful in slowing drivers down and encouraging pedestrian activity.
Over time, our vision is to build a whole network of curb extension murals throughout the downtown area that will improve pedestrian safety for those traveling to and through our center city by slowing down traffic, beautify public spaces and nurture a sense of place, and call attention to street design as one critical factor in creating streets that are safe for everyone.
We are happy to announce the two locations for the 2025 Downtown SmART Streets inaugural year will be East Main St & Gibbs St as well as Broad St & Fitzhugh St. Read about our selection process.
“I saw this guy on a bike today, weaving in and out of cars waiting for a light to change. I thought, man, that person is ruining it for all bike riders. That kind of thing must drive you crazy right?”
“Not as much as a Ford F-150 doing the same thing,” I replied.
The statement recently made by a friend of mine was classically indicative of people close to me who really try to understand my take on cars, trucks and SUVs, but are still under the spell of the automobile-first mentality that plagues our flawed view about transportation and mobility.
This week alone, I was almost hit by a driver swerving through traffic at high speed with no signaling. I witnessed a driver screaming at a school bus operator on a 1.5 lane bridge, then squeal his tires and drive away at what had to have been 50 in a 30. While my wife and I were traveling to the beautiful Finger Lakes Region this weekend, we were passed by no less than 20 drivers exceeding 80mph. And of course, there was the usual smattering of blatant red light running, stop sign roll-throughs and blatant drive-by disregards for pedestrians waiting at crosswalks.
While everyone laments these activities, they rarely cause us to question the automobile itself. Strategies to create environments and infrastructure that make our roads safer have gained momentum, but they are still in their relative infancy, both with regard to execution and influence. Despite the fact that automobile crashes are the number 2 killer of children and teens in the U.S. (it was #1 for decades until recently when shootings stole this tragic and senseless title) we collectively tend to dismiss bad driving behavior as a sort of toxic bi-product of an essential form of mobility.
But when a bike rider flagrantly disobeys the law or pilots a two-wheeled machine dangerously, that’s when we react with a desire to crack down and put these death-wish seekers in their place. There’s just one key flaw in this argument and one that is so hidden in people’s plain sight that it makes me laugh every time. On my bike, I am only a danger to myself on our roads. Even if I recklessly ride my biggest, fastest bike hard into a Smart Car or a Mini-Cooper, the likely outcome is that I, the bike rider, will end up dead or horribly injured while the driver of the tiny vehicle will walk away unscathed.
Alternatively, if a driver of even the smallest automobile miss-pilots their car, truck or SUV, they do so at great risk to themselves AND other people on our roads. If you’re going to be hit, would you rather be hit by a bike, or by a Chevy Silverado?
Simply put, a reckless bike rider is only a danger to themselves, while a reckless driver, which we all see constantly on our roads, is danger to themselves AND the other drivers, cyclists, scooter riders and pedestrians around them. And yet I’ll put good money on the fact that most drivers see cyclists as a human-less barrier to their endgame.
The response to the above comparison between transportation modes and ability to do harm is typically followed up with a call for cyclists to protect themselves better, citing the fact that law breakers put themselves at greater risk. Which is kind of like saying 100 pound people should be very careful to not step out of line around 250 pound muscular people for their own safety.
Another hilariously “backed into a corner” response is that “people just need to be raised to be better drivers,” implying that what happens on our roads is a product of bad manners, bad parenting, and generally crummy people. But since there will always be people in our society who’s baseline it is to flagrantly do as they please in spite of their surroundings, why not build infrastructure that makes it harder, not easier, to break the law on our roadways?
A 2013 Atlantic article speaks to the concept of freedom that power elicits. In the article, Joe Magee of New York University states that “Power isn’t corrupting, it’s freeing,” going on to say that “Once you get into a position of power, then you can be whoever you are.” When we are given tools of great power, the best or the worst of who we are shines through. Power removes the confines of fear, which is often a good thing, unless we are realistic about the responsibility of driving a 5,000 pound vehicle with hundreds of horsepower. This is probably a case where a small dose of fear is healthy and encouraged.
In a world indoctrinated in one transportation mode, these aren’t easy concepts. When driving has been subsidized, prioritized and normalized as part of every trip, “letting off the gas” of this automobile normalcy goes against the power-based psychology that is present in all humans. Slowly, more and more people are open to understanding the concepts mentioned here and as a result, our communities may slowly grow to become safer and healthier places to be.
For 6 years, I’ve been dreaming of the day when Genesee street in downtown Utica, NY might be reduced from four lanes to two with a turning lane and bike lanes. To be perfectly frank, this was a reality I feared would never materialize. Despite the fact that countless cities and towns across the country have successfully executed a “road diet,” thus making a street safer for pedestrians, cyclists AND drivers with zero-to-minimal impact on travel time, so many Uticans had abrasively rejected my vision every time I brought it up.
Thanks to the vision of Utica Common Council member Katie Aiello, that formally unrealized hope for Utica’s historic Genesee Street was re-striped a little over a month ago with two travel lanes, a left-hand turning lane and bike lanes, just like I’ve imagined so many times.
This was done as part of a 90-day trial period to assess the impact of the project. But as is typical when a city is introduced to the concept of Complete Streets and road diets for the first time, many people responded with a flurry of dissent.
Hot tip… if you ever want to sit back and watch a relentless flow of verbal bile and fire-scorched sense of logic, suggest a road diet in a downtown to a city and metro population for the first time. Just grab a substantial bag of buttery, salted popcorn and watch the horror unfold.
I’ve spent a significant amount of time assuring the people of Utica that projects like this make our streets safer for everyone, as well as helping to elicit private investment and provide greater accessibility of community resources for the population. A big part of this assurance is telling people that if this kind of project worked on the Main Street of my home city of Rochester with a population of over 200,000 people, it will work for a city with a population of just over 60,000 people. Genesee Street in Utica and Rochester’s Main Street downtown each have similar daily traffic counts (approximately 9,000 vehicles per day, well below the 15,000-20,000 that begin the four-lane road conversation).
But, as usual with these sorts of projects, my fact-backed urgings and invitations to references and resources in support of road diets were often met with a “no thanks,” as many community leaders choose their own opinions over actual data that has been repeated hundreds, if not thousands of times. My favorite comments from leading members of a prestigious local organization implied that bike lanes and greater walkability would make the area more accessible for “crack dealers.”
What it all boils down to is this… many residents still have an insulated “out my front door” view that their city or community is unique. And while to some extent this is true, for the most part, Rust Belt (or as I like to call them, Robust Belt) cities are all dealing with, and recovering from, the same barriers. And again, as much as we struggle to admit the solutions of de-prioritizing the automobile, creating small business-friendly environments, solving issues of equity and access and laying the fertile soil for human-centered economic growth are the broad but key lenses of change for all communities, it’s the proven truth. Despite the aforementioned opposition by many of Utica’s community leaders, the road diet that has taken place on Genesee Street is a small but significant puzzle piece with regard to the solution.
Maybe you’re still not comfortable thinking that your city isn’t as unique as you think it is. OK, I’ll concede that for a moment… but what I will not waiver on is that, as soon as we Americans get in our cars, we act more predictably than ever.
We all make subjective statements like “Massachusetts drivers are the worst,” or “Indiana drivers always pass on the right.” The truth is, people don’t drive differently because they’re from a different locale. Real world data shows that there are scores of given principles that determine the behavior of drivers. If the roads are wide, people will drive faster. If there are no vertical points of reference (trees for example) people will drive faster. If there is parallel parking, people will drive slower. If the lane is 9 feet wide instead of 11 feet wide, people will drive slower. And why is automobile speed so important when blended with walkability? Because of the shocking data from the National Traffic Safety Board…
A pedestrian hit by a car traveling 40 miles per hour is nearly twice as likely to be killed than if the car was traveling 30 miles per hour. Building infrastructure that reduces speeds, even by a few miles per hour, has the potential to save lives. But in order to do this, we must accept that traffic in our community doesn’t behave differently than traffic in other locales. We must accept that the drivers in Utica behave the same way as they do anywhere else… it’s the infrastructure that determines how safely or unsafely people pilot their vehicles.
This is typically where people will stand up and point out that cyclists and pedestrians break the law as well. My answer is always the same… sure, just like drivers, those who walk, bike and scooter break the law… the difference is that they are not piloting a 3,000-6,000 pound vehicle capable of 100mph that doesn’t just threaten their own life, it threatens the life of other people and property as well. Car crashes are the close #2 killer of children and teens, after gun violence. The NHTSA states that car crashes in the United States cost nearly a trillion dollars annually. And much of this burden is directly shouldered by the taxpayer. Why, then, would anyone rally against a mobility strategy that had the potential to save lives, lessen the chance of personal injury AND save taxpayer money?
The answer is entitlement that is always thoroughly-veiled in the word “freedom.” Drivers often view projects like this as yet another assault on their personal freedom. The irony, of course, is that transportation infrastructure that prioritizes the most expensive modality (automobiles) means that one doesn’t have a choice in how to access jobs and resources in their community. Because driving is subsidized so heavily in the US, there is no equitable alternative that is feasible or practical. Because of far higher gas taxes, gasoline in Europe costs twice as much… but the average American spends four times as much on transportation as the average European. This has led to the antithesis of transportation freedom for the American, replacing it with a blatant “pay-to-play” scenario. You must own a car to have the opportunity to succeed.
No, simply re-striping Utica’s Genesee Street won’t, on its own, invigorate a pedestrian and bike-friendly culture in the city’s downtown. No, it won’t single-handedly increase sales at local stores, restaurants, museums and theaters. It should be seen, instead, as a social and economic fulcrum, or a sort of fertilized soil that can help grow the seeds of prosperity for Utica’s future. It’s a small step, but one that so many cities have taken toward a more socially and economically prosperous community.
Posted by: Pete Nabozny, Associate Principal at CGR and co-owner of Tru Yoga
As we’ve seen previously in this series of posts on Transportation & Poverty, the costs associated with transportation for Rochesterians in poverty are considerable. Low-income workers are faced with a difficult choice – spend a high portion of their income on a car and associated expenses so that they can get to work in a reasonable amount of time or lose many hours each week commuting by public transportation, effectively reducing their hourly pay and crowding out other productive activities. The ongoing de-concentration of jobs and housing in our region only exacerbates this dilemma. Read more
