The Town Team Movement’s new Streets Alive program is offering 'seed' grants of up to $5,000 to eligible WA community groups with the aim of delivering traffic calming and road safety projects in local streets and neighbourhoods.
Think street art, public furniture, planter boxes, community education, bay markings, and street activations. Or think outside the square about innovative ways to slow down traffic and make your local streets more vibrant people-friendly places.
'Wonderful things happen when people come together to bring more colour and vibrancy to their streets. Not only do people feel closer to each other, but cars also slow down, so that streets become more enjoyable and safer.' - Town Teams.
A busy section of Beaufort Street in Inglewood is a recent example of where locals, with the support of Town Teams, have used placemaking to slow down traffic. Landscaping, seating, shade and street art were introduced to create a safer and more vibrant street environment, which paved the way for a two-year trial to reduce the speed limit from 60km to 40km during busy periods.
The impact of the trial was significant. People started visiting the area rather than travelling through it. Road crashes were reduced by 48 percent and serious injury crashes dropped from an average of eight to one per year.
Recently, residents and businesses in Inglewood welcomed the City of Stirling’s decision to reduce speeds permanently.
A community toolkit has been developed by the Road Safety Commission in partnership with Town Teams. The 'Safer Speeds & Better Places' toolkit is a resource to help build community knowledge about road safety and provide ideas and inspiration to make local streets safer and more vibrant.
You can download the toolkit for free from the Town Teams website.
Streets Alive seed grants close on 5 June for projects delivered between 1 July 2024 and 31 March 2025. To apply visit the Streets Alive website.
Image - Town Team member Ben Kent addresses the crowd at the announcement of a $5 million investment over three years in the Town Team Movement by the Minister for Road Safety, Hon. David Michael.
