When was the last time you walked across Herndon or Blackstone Ave? Yes, you read that right, walked across. Quite a daunting task, wouldn’t you say, to venture across 6 lanes of high speed traffic! 

The same sentiment is what activated Our Voice Project (OVP), a Neighborhood Association in Southwest Fresno, to voice concern in regard to the necessary infrastructure upgrades to the intersection, but to no avail. The local news has even done a segment highlighting the unsafe conditions of the intersection. View it here. OVP, in partnership with The Fresno County of Public Health and Every Neighborhood Partnership, applied for a state issued grant that would allow them to temporarily display the changes they deemed necessary to safely cross the streets of MLK Ave and California Ave. California Walks (CalWalks) awarded The Kit of Parts to the Fresno collaboration! On November 10th the intersection of Martin Luther King Ave & California Ave was temporarily shut down. 

On November 10th, 2022, Southwest community members and organizational partners arrived at 5am to begin installing the temporary crosswalk art and setting up the half mile long protected bike lane.

In theory, painted crosswalks and protected bike lanes not only cause pedestrians and cyclists to feel safer and more secure, but it does so while bringing drivers’ attention into focus on what they are about to travel through. The results confirmed what community members had predicted. 

Over 72% of those that took the survey responded that their primary way of commuting was by walking and over 33% commute by cycling in Southwest Fresno. Of these percentages, over 93% felt safer walking because of the protected bike lane and would like to see it permanently installed and over 91% felt safer walking because of the creative crosswalk and would like to see it permanently installed. Please find the full report here. Community members, those who are the experts of their neighborhood, now have the data to support their venture in making the intersection of MLK and CA Ave that much safer for pedestrians and cyclists in Southwest Fresno.