TO 
?But—if you ruled the world or had
a magic wand—what would you do to enhance those traffic circles aesthetically,
or from a creative standpoint?
What would your ideal Shorewood traffic
circle look like? Would it have flowers? Topiary? A flowering crabapple? A painted
pavement design? A fountain? A koi pond? A waterfall? A yellow tubular giraffe?
A statue of Dick Bacon?
The basic rules of the Contest
are simple:
- Create an image of how you would enhance one or more of the new traffic calming installations. The image can be a photograph, a computer-generated image, a painting, or a drawing (using programs like photoshop or ChatGPT, etc. is fine). Your image can involve one of the current demo intersections, or some other Shorewood intersection (e.g., the intersection of Capitol & Oakland, or Capitol & Lake).
- Submit your image to S|C|S|C (via an email addressed to sandiependleton@gmail.com). Then sit back, and wait to hear the decision of the judges. Deadline for all entries is 5:00 pm on Thursday, June 5th.
See the full rules for this contest below. We have a lot of creative people in Shorewood, so we are looking forward to seeing the entries that are submitted.
This is a somewhat-less-than-serious design contest, but through this contest S|C|S|C hopes to highlight the research that shows that when streets are better designed (especially if streets have high-quality landscaping), drivers tend to drive a bit slower. That tends to make streets safer for all users—pedestrians, students, families, bike riders and drivers. Also, when streets are well designed, and well landscaped, property values along such streets increase.
Research also shows that such better designed streets naturally encourage more people to be physically active, and to walk, bike and socialize on such streets.
Please also note that the Village is asking folks to share their views about the new temporary infrastructure. The Village’s online survey is available at this link. S|C|S|C (and Greater Shorewood Bikers) are encouraging folks to take a few minutes to respond to the Village's survey. We note that when it comes to anything new (especially when it comes to street design), it is the opponents who are more likely to contact the Village, and express their opposition. (As Taylor Swift says "haters gonna hate, hate, hate.") If the Village only hears from the haters, Village officials are going to be under the impression that residents do not want better and safer streets. So please let the Village hear your thoughts, views and suggestions on the new infrastructure.
FYI, if you don't want to take the time to take the full survey, but still want to express your support quickly to the Village, you can "take the fast lane" by sending an email to Bart Griepentrog (the Village's lead person on this project). Bart's email address is bgriepentrog@shorewoodwi.gov. Your email can be as short as "I support the temporary traffic calming infrastructure that Village recently installed, and would like to see more such infrastructure in the Village." Or (if you want to be more specific) your email could say "I agree with the Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety Subcommittee's comments on the new temporary traffic calming infastructure." Those comments can be viewed at this link.
The Design Contest Complete Rules
No purchase necessary to enter. This contest is organized by Greater Shorewood Bikers, Inc., a part of the Shorewood Complete Streets Coalition ("S|C|S|C"). Designs submitted become the property of GSB, and may be displayed (online or physically) and otherwise used by GSB. If you do not want your name associated with your design, you must so state in your email submitting the design. Designs must be received before 5:00 pm central time on Thursday, June 5, 2025. Winners will be notified within one week of that date. By submitting a design, the entrant certifies that the design is original, and does not contain any elements that are the copyrighted, trademarked or other property of any third person. Prizes for the contest may be nothing more than the GSB blog identifying an entrant as a winner. (GSB is attenpting to identify some local businesses who might be willing to donate or provide some gift cards that could be distributed to winners, but there is no guaranty that such efforts will be successful.)