The installation worked

A crossing rebuilt for people.

After neighbors built it, 16th & Monon became kinder, slower, and easier to trust. More people cross. Drivers yield. The dangerous moments nearly vanished, and the data carries the feeling.

Stay informed See what neighbors built
−73% severe conflicts at the crossing
+128% more drivers yielding or stopping
2.3% → 0 vehicles over 35mph

The crossing changed

More people cross. Drivers yield. The fear is fading.

Before the installation, standing at 16th and Monon meant reading fast traffic. The quickest drivers set the tone: the top 15% were moving at least 29mph, and about one in three vehicles was over 25mph.

After the neighbors built it, that changed. The fastest drivers slowed, with the 85th percentile dropping from 29mph to 22mph. Very high speeds over 30mph fell by 86%, and vehicles over 25mph shrank to about one in sixteen.

-86%

drivers over 30mph

29mph → 22mph top 15% fastest drivers
1/3 → 1/16 vehicles over 25mph

Out of every 100 recorded encounters, the green began to overwhelm the red.

Each dot is a crossing moment. The after picture is not perfect, but it is unmistakably more generous.

Before 61 yield
After 85 yield
Driver yields or stops Uncertain give-and-take Tense, had to slow fast Slammed brakes or swerved

And everyone slowed down

The fast lane got a lot calmer.

Before, about 1 in 3 vehicles passed through above 25 mph, the speed at which collision injuries become far more likely. After, that became about 1 in 16.

The most dangerous speeds dropped even harder. Vehicles above 30 mph fell by 86%.

Both directions. Morning and evening. Weekday and weekend. The numbers moved the same way everywhere we looked.

Average speed

22.5 mph became 17.4 mph

−5.1 mph

85th-percentile speed

29 mph became 22 mph, so even speeders slowed

−7 mph

Vehicles above 25 mph

30.5% became 6.1%, turning 1 in 3 into 1 in 16

−80%

Vehicles above 30 mph

The highest-risk speeds became uncommon

−86%
Neighbors painting and installing the 16th and Monon crossing from above
Neighbors in safety vests smiling while painting the street installation
A neighbor holding a slow sign at the 16th and Monon crossing

What neighbors built

Paint became a promise.

The installation turned blank asphalt into a visible invitation to slow down, look up, and treat the crossing as a place with people in it. It is tactical urbanism with a human pulse: practical, bright, handmade, and impossible to miss.

The proof

This is not only a feeling. It is the data.

Neighbors counted by hand across 30 observation sessions, before and after the build. Both travel directions. AM and PM. Weekday and weekend. These are early before/after observations, not a controlled trial, but the shift is large, consistent, and points the same direction across every view of the crossing.

3,880 vehicles counted before
5,108 vehicles counted after
30 observation sessions

Thank you

This is what neighbors can do.

We took initiative. Residents organized, designed, painted, counted, and built it together. The numbers above are the proof, but the real result is a crossing where a parent, a kid, or a neighbor on the trail can step off the curb and trust that they will be seen.

Neighbors in safety vests painting the street together at 16th and Monon

Thank you, neighbors of Martindale-Brightwood, Old Northside, Kennedy-King, the Near East Side, and every rider and walker on the Monon.

You did this.

Now let's make it permanent.