Installation of a new bump-out project began Tuesday at the corner of Prospect Avenue and Carolina Street on Buffalo’s West Side. The project is a collaboration between GObike and Starlight Studio, an art program for adults with developmental disabilities.
Artwork by Starlight artist Shamika Long will be painted on the street within the bump-outs. Not only is she excited to see her artwork incorporated, but she is also familiar with GObike, who donated a new helmet to her after she was involved in a traffic incident that these very bump-outs are intended to prevent.
Starlight Studio director Carrie Marcotte says Long’s art was chosen due to her stylistic use of patterns.
“The teaching artist really looked at a lot of the artwork and did have a mind to whose art they thought would work well in this format. Because it’s like, four repeated areas for these bump-outs and so – and Shamika’s just looked like it would be great, and like I said it was also kind of a nice connection too that she is such a regular user of our transit systems and also had gotten this helmet from GObike in the past.”
GObike Executive Director and West Side resident Justin Booth says that the construction is temporary and is meant to increase the safety of pedestrians and cyclists by narrowing the street and slowing traffic.
“So, in the past, we’ve used a paint that only lasted for a season, and then heavy traffic movements, the winter, it’d be washed away. We’ve invested in a better paint this year, it’s called ‘street bond.' And so, we look at this as temporary because this is going to last three to five years. It’s only costing us a couple thousand dollars. Our goal long term is for the city to come in here and make the, you know, the investment into making these bump-outs permanent, which could be over, you know, several hundred thousand dollars per intersection.”
The project is funded by "Expanding Access to Arts," a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts. It will be painted by neighborhood volunteers and is expected to be completed in mid-October.