Streetscape Project
“The vision of a vibrant, urban, walkable community has become a reality.”
The streetscape project completed in the summer of 2010 offers a wonderful beautification component to the Business District with colorful flower pots, signature banners and decorative benches and other amenities. The project included a traffic enhancement feature that provided new traffic signals, street pavement, crosswalk signage, bump outs for convenient parking to service the businesses and organizations in the District while slowing down the vehicular traffic to make pedestrians walking on the street more comfortable.
In addition to these features, the sidewalk serves as the home to the Walk of Fame which displays over 125 granite tributes, recognizing individuals and/or groups that have made significant contribution to the regions legacy.
There was also the installation of a major public art sculpture, inspired by the poem A Negro Love Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar titled Jump Back Honey Jump Back. This sculpture was designed and created by Willis ‘Bing’ Davis. It is particularly unique because of a relationship that was formed with the National Composite Center which provided the materials allowing for an innovative process to be used in the creation of the sculpture.
The overall result of this project now makes for a ‘vibrant, urban, walkable community of innovation, creativity and collaboration where diverse families, businesses, neighbors and visitors live, work, recreate and learn together as a testimony to the historic legacy of the Wright Brothers and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
