Fort Collins begins asphalt art project in hopes of making intersection safer

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A Fort Collins intersection will soon look very different.

On Friday, city staff and volunteers began applying paint to their asphalt art project at the intersection of Magnolia, Canyon, and Sherwood. The paint aims to be a cost-effective and quick way to make intersections safer.

The city chose this five-point intersection after hearing from residents about its safety.

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"We're out here improving the intersection by adding curb extensions with asphalt art within that extended area. We're effectively extending the pedestrian space with those curb extensions, and then that creates the canvas for our art," said Cortney Geary, the active modes manager for the City of Fort Collins. "It's really helping to narrow the crossing distances for pedestrians, to reduce their exposure to traffic and help the intersection function better for everyone."

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This intersection was chosen after the city heard residents complain of its size, length of crosswalks, and confusing right-of-way.

"Fortunately, we don't have crash history here in the last five years or so, but we heard a lot about issues with perceived safety. If you were walking, biking or driving through the intersection, you have to look nearly 360 degrees around you to see vehicles and other road users coming from four different other directions," said Geary.

Watch a timelapse of the project in the video player below:

Bloomberg Philanthropies believes asphalt art can make intersections safer. The group gave $25,000 grants to Fort Collins and 24 other cities to redesign unsafe or confusing intersections.

In a 2022 study , the company found that with asphalt art, there comes a 17% decrease in total crashes and a 50% decrease in crashes involving pedestrians.

Safer sure, but can the asphalt art also make the redesign look good?

Jess Bean, a local muralist, was the lead artist on the overall design of this 16,000-square-foot street mural.

"Intersections definitely can be pretty. Public art changes the way things run and the way people interact with it, and people's amount of joy throughout the day," said Bean.

Something joyful that was made possible by community members doing the hard work.

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"I just love that this opportunity for people to be involved with the project helps them take ownership of our public space. Our streets are our largest public space within the city, and so to have this opportunity for people to come out and be part of reshaping with us, reshaping it with us, I think, gives them that sense that the streets are for people and they can have an impact on reshaping it," said Geary.

Fort Collins expects 170 volunteers to help with painting over three days. The project should wrap up on Sunday.

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