A traffic garden is coming to Dayton.
What is a traffic garden, you ask? It’s not an actual garden, but rather a miniature world of roads, pavements, street signs and signals, where children can learn about traffic safety and city planning while staying safe from actual traffic.
Caitlin Sparks, communication and events manager for Tri-State Trails, presented the initiative at the Dayton City Council meeting on May 16.
Traffic gardens have been constructed in several states, from North Carolina to Washington. They can be built on a minimal budget with chalk and tape on the ground, but can also leave room for elaborate elements like landscaping, miniature buildings and murals. Sparks said Dayton is a perfect spot for a traffic garden as it is a walkable, bikeable, small community within easy access to a metropolitan area.
The traffic garden is proposed for placement in Gil Lynn Park and will come with concrete repairs for the area. A decommissioned drain close to the flood wall will be overhauled to direct water into the grass and away from the park shelter, Sparks said. The project managers are in the process of obtaining quotes for the repairs.
Tri-State Trails wrote the grant for the project, using funding from Gov. Andy Beshear’s Highway Safety Association in partnership with the National Road Safety Foundation under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The grant allocates $25,000 in unrestricted funding exclusively to youth safety mobility projects in underserved areas. The grant was applied through the Kentucky Department of Transportation, where the team will send monthly progress reports until the project is finished in November.
A public demonstration of the traffic garden model will be held July 15 and a ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for September.