Two Bangor organizations are looking to paint a first-of-its-kind mural on a strip of road shoulder in the middle of downtown Bangor this spring.
Local nonprofits Bangor Beautiful and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness are joining forces to bring a ground mural to a busy portion of Hammond Street.
Though the mural’s final design isn’t finalized yet, the image will be designed by Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness artists and likely include images of waves, native animals and crops, and Katahdin, said Greg Edwards, a Bangor Beautiful board member.
Aside from bringing a splash of color to downtown Bangor, the art is designed to keep pedestrians safe by naturally slowing traffic and drawing attention to the sidewalk and crosswalks in that area, Edwards said. The additional safety measure would come in a year when the city is on pace to exceed last year’s number of pedestrian-vehicle crashes.
In the first two months of this year, Bangor saw six pedestrian crashes, five of which happened in January alone, according to the Maine Department of Transportation. In 2023, Bangor had 17 total pedestrian crashes.
The Bangor City Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee preliminarily approved the project proposal on Monday night. The organizations’ request to paint the mural is expected to go before the council for formal approval next week.
“I’m very excited about this,” Cara Pelletier, Bangor City Council chair, said. “I love that we’re following the trend that paint can make cities safer, and I think this is an area of town that could use some sprucing up.”
The mural will be roughly 3,400 square feet and run along the shoulders of Hammond Street from the intersection of Central Street and stretch uphill, ending just after the U.S. Post Office, according to the project proposal. The art will also emphasize existing crosswalks across Hammond Street and dip into Franklin Street to cover a crosswalk where Franklin and Hammond streets meet.
While the project will leave a 10-foot travel lane for vehicles, the art makes the road appear narrower, which naturally slows traffic. The painting also won’t eliminate any on-street parking, Edwards said.
An April 2022 study from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Sam Schwartz Engineering found that pedestrian crashes in an area dropped by 50 percent after asphalt art was added. There was also a 27 percent increase in drivers yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks and a 38 percent decline in pedestrians crossing against the walk signal after the road art was added.
The study was part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative, which has funded 42 street murals in 41 U.S. cities since 2019.
If approved, Bangor Beautiful volunteers and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness staff will paint the mural over three to five days in either May or June. The mural will be touched up each spring, or more frequently if needed, until Hammond Street is repaved in 2026.
Though the art is ultimately temporary, Bangor Beautiful said the project could serve as a model for future ground murals in the city.
The initial painting and regular upkeep is expected to cost $10,000 and be funded through donations and grants, according to the proposal.
The ground mural would be the latest piece of public art made possible by Bangor Beautiful, a nonprofit that formed in 2022 to bring more public art, gardens and trees to the city, as well as maintaining Bangor’s public trails.
In 2023, the group commissioned artist Matthew Willey to paint a bee mural on the building at 49 Park St. Bangor Beautiful also selected Bangor High School student Jaeda Grosjean’s Sundial lupine design for a mural on the backside of One Lupine, a yarn shop at 170 Park St.
© 2020-23 Digest Wire. All rights belong to their respective owners.