Results and Winner of the “Imaginary Street Beauty Design Contest"

 

Article by Sandie Pendleton

The Shorewood Complete Streets Coalition ("S|C|S|C") over the last month has conducted the Imaginary Street Design Contest, to see who had the most creative idea as to how traffic calming infrastructure in Shorewood might be both effective and beautiful. We are happy to announce that the winner is Ayla Kang, a rising junior at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (where she is majoring in visual communication, graphic design and illustration, with a minor in painting and drawing). Her winning entry is shown above (a re-imagined image of what a more-permanent traffic circle at the intersection of Murray & Beverly might look like).  

The judges commented that Ayla’s entry did an excellent job showing that traffic circles in Shorewood “do not have to be ugly or merely functional, or merely rooted in the now, but can be beautiful, and have artistic elements that evoke the past, present and future.” Congratulations to Ayla, and best wishes to her in her future endeavors. 

We received other entries to the contest not just from Shorewood or Wisconsin, but from other states as well.  Some of those other entries are below, along with the judge's comments. 

Above, a fanciful entry from an anonymous Shorewood entrant. The judges like the idea of whimsical, creative statue in a traffic circle, especially if the traffic circle in question was installed near a school. “Now all we need to do is to convince Jeff Koons to donate one of his million-dollar giant stainless steel balloon animals to Shorewood, for installation in one of our permanent traffic circles,” commented one judge.

Above, an entry from Shorewood resident Matt Robinson, showing an enhanced temporary traffic circle at the intersection of Murray and Beverly. “What a pleasure that would be to see something like this in May or June” said the judges.

Shorewood resident Linda Keene (a nationally known urban street designer), also brought to our attention images and links to an online video regarding an award-winning design of a traffic circle built in Normal, Illinois in 2010. To see how a (not particularly attractive, and underperforming) central intersection in a small town can be transformed into a place of beauty and prosperity by a traffic circle, we highly recommend watching the following short video: 

Designed by Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, the "Uptown Normal Traffic Circle," serves multiple beneficial functions: a village focal point; a place for people to gather (rather than just for cars to drive through or park on); a place where kids can get their feet wet; a place that collects, cleans and re-purposes 1.4 million gallons of collected stormwater; a place for trees to grow that sequester over ten thousand pounds of carbon annually; a place that generates new commercial and residential development (along with an increased tax base), and higher retail sales for surrounding businesses. 

For more images and details regarding the Uptown Normal Traffic Circle, click on this link.  

We wouldn't want to just copy Normal, of course, because we're not Normal. (Rimshot "ba dum tss" and canned laughter.) But wouldn't it be nice if the intersection of Capitol & Oakland was more than just (as a friend of mine described it) "a time-wasting, polution-generating, junction of two car sewers"? What if the intersection of Capitol & Oakland were instead re-imagined and re-constructed to become a place that actually is attractive to people (in both senses of the word)? 

Another anonymous entrant who was "thinking big," submitted the above "two season depiction" of “a re-imagined design for either the intersection of Downer & Menlo, or Capitol & Oakland” with koi pond in the summer, and ice rink in the winter. The judges admired the creativity (but not necessarily the practicality) of the entry, noting that (while an ice skating rink is probably not in either intersection's future), the idea of having a fountain or some other type of water feature in a traffic circle could be a welcome addition to our Village.      

Not all of the entrants submitted actual images. One entrant told us she would like to see the Village consider planting one or more trees within the traffic circles, but that until the trees matured, she’d like to see one or more “solar trees” planted in those traffic circles.  An image of such a solar tree (one recently installed in a Milwaukee-area park) is below.

The judges liked the idea, especially if the electricity generated by the sun and the trees would help to lower the Village’s electric bill or carbon footprint, or could power a “slow-changing artistic light show” in the traffic circle.

This design contest, of course, has been more focused on creativity, than actual practicality. S|C|S|C is well aware that multiple considerations go into decisions relating to traffic circles, the design of traffic circles, and that there are costs associated with moving from a traditional intersection (one controlled by one or more stop signs or traffic signals), to a traffic circle intersection. S|C|S|C is well aware that there are many drivers in Wisconsin and this area (especially older drivers) who are unfamiliar with traffic circles, and who do not want them added to streets. And we are well aware that if the Village wants a portion of Capitol Drive to be re-designed, that is a long-term project, that will need to be done in conjunction with (and with the cooperation of) the Wisconsin DOT.    

That said, through this contest S|C|S|C hopes to do a couple of things. That includes helping to get a conversation going in the Village regarding what the research says regarding the multi-faceted benefits that modern street design (and in particular "modern traffic circles") can bring to a community. It is our hope that going forward, street design decisions in Shorewood are made based on such research, rather than just anecdote, or subjective prediction. That is, just because there is a a number of residents who have a deeply-held subjective conviction or prediction that traffic circles would be certain to make Shorewood streets less safe, is not a reason for us generally (or Village officials specifically) to ignore the substantial amount of research based on evidence and experience from other communities that traffic circles (and other modern street design elements) make streets safer. That research shows:

• That better designed streets (especially with high-quality landscaping) naturally lead to drivers driving a bit slower. That tends to make streets safer for all users—pedestrians, students, families, bike riders and drivers. 
• That when streets are well designed, and well landscaped, property values along such streets increase, and (in commercial districts) retail foot traffic and sales also increase.  
• That better designed streets naturally encourage more people to be physically active, and to walk, bike and socialize on and near such streets. 

It should also be noted that the experience in many other communities has been that opposition to traffic circles (and other modern street design elements) peaks around the time the elements are proposed and first installed, then—once a few months pass, and residents become more familiar with the new design—opposition substantially decreases, and acceptance substantially increases. Locally, that has been the experience with the 2003 "removal of the Park East Freeway," and Shorewood's 2018 “traffic-calming re-design” of Wilson Drive, and its 2024 “traffic-calming re-design” of Edgewood Avenue.

So, at a minimum, we are asking folks of all ages in the Village to approach these issues at the outset with an open mind. Our hope is that folks will consider the evidence/research, and avoid the temptation to make a snap judgment that our moving towards more modern street designs would be a bad thing for the Village and its residents.   

Thanks again to everyone who submitted images and ideas to the contest, and thanks for reading this far.  

The author is the president of Greater Shorewood Bikers. To communicate with Sandie on the above issues, or to be added to the GSB email listserv, write to Sandie at sandiependleton@gmail.com.