TAMPA, Fla. — As part of its initiative to make streets safer, the city of Tampa will unveil a new mural on Friday night.
The mural, which will be on Kay Street between Florida Avenue and Tampa Street, keeps with the Vision Zero theme of "Paint Saves Lives." The unveiling will take place at 7 p.m.
"Through our safety initiatives, like Vision Zero, we're making creative changes big and small that have a huge impact in protecting our pedestrians, calming traffic, and adding a touch of beauty to our streets," said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor. "We are very excited to have this colorful new mural along one of our gateways into downtown and the Tampa Heights neighborhood."
The mural is being done by a local husband and wife team known as Illsol. See the artist's rendering below.
"The Kay Street is the latest mural we have commissioned that makes our Downtown more vibrant and inviting, but more importantly improves the safety of these key pedestrian crossings – making it a win-win," noted Tampa Downtown Partnership President and CEO Lynda Remund.
"So what we're doing with these projects is just sending those visual cues to drivers that slow down. This is you know, literally a vibrant area. You know, expect pedestrians expect people to be on their bicycles expect people to be on scooters, probably darting unsafely out into traffic, that sort of thing," Karen Kress, Director of Transportation and Planning for Tampa Downtown Partnership, said.
In addition to the mural, the city will also be adding pedestrian warning signals along with stop signs for cyclists and pedestrians.
Vision Zero started the "Paint Saves Lives" initiative in 2017 and since then, they've unveiled about 10 murals across the city.
"It's just exciting to finally see something come to fruition that's adding character and really highlighting this unique area of Tampa while also providing those safety benefits for people who are on foot or on bike trying to go between the two districts," Alana Brasier, Vision Zero Coordinator for the City of Tampa said.
