Dayton Traffic Garden
The Dayton Traffic Garden is a welcoming and creative space that includes a set of small-sized streets with scaled-down traffic features and urban elements. It provides a safe environment for children and new learners to practice using streets, free from motor vehicles.
What is a traffic garden?
Traffic Gardens are known by many terms depending on when, how, and where they are built. Common names include Safety Towns, Safety Villages, Road Tracks, and Traffic Playgrounds. Whatever the term used, these mini-street networks are found dotted all over the U.S. and Canada and in many other spots worldwide.
Traffic gardens vary depending on the skills taught, available space, or the resources to construct one. Regardless of the type, all traffic gardens have one thing in common: they create a world to safely walk, roll, and ride bicycles.
The benefits of a traffic garden are numerous and can be felt by people of all ages. Children navigate the small-scale network of streets on foot and bikes, learning important life lessons, and adults gain a better understanding of a young person’s needs and experiences.
Traffic gardens go beyond safety do’s and don’ts and engage children in a holistic and hands-on way about how to make streets safer and more comfortable for different kinds of road users. It teaches children how the built environment helps facilitate different transportation choices and how better design and engineering can enable healthier, safer, and more sustainable modes of transportation. Moreover, using traffic gardens as a teaching tool makes tangible the role of engineering in our day-to-day lives.
The Dayton Traffic Garden was made possible with support from many partners.
Funded with a $25,000 grant from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and the National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF), the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet partnered with Tri-State Trails to implement the project in the City of Dayton.
Discover Traffic Gardens initially drafted three site plans for the Dayton Traffic Garden in Gil Lynn Park, incorporating roadways, crosswalks, roundabouts, and vibrant elements to bring the traffic garden to life. The final design was selected with public input received at Tri-State Trails’ Pop-Up Bike Shop event at Gil Lynn Park on July 15, 2023.
The Dayton Traffic Garden in the news!
How a 'traffic garden' could be a solution to teaching kids about pedestrian safety, WCPO
In underserved areas, traffic gardens become a safety training tool for children, E.W. Scripps
Traffic garden coming to NKY town, FOX 19
A ‘safety town’ is coming to Dayton, Ky., to teach bike safety to kids, WVXU
GHSA and National Road Safety Foundation Provide Grants for Safe Youth Mobility in Underserved Areas
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Dayton Traffic Garden Buzz
“As a dad, it is so important to me that every single Kentuckian child has access to safe outdoor spaces and I am grateful for this grant that will improve bike and pedestrian safety for children across our commonwealth,”
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear
“The City of Dayton – with its partners, Tri-State Trails, Kentucky State Rep. Rachel Roberts, KYTC, and Dayton Independent Schools – is excited to create the first traffic garden in the region in our city. All seven of our city parks are frequently used by our residents and visitors to the city, and the addition of the Traffic Garden at Gil Lynn Park provides another engaging amenity in a park located right next door to our elementary and grade schools. This new park feature will help our children better understand the importance of cycling and pedestrian safety – not only in our city, but anywhere else they may go.”
Dayton Mayor Ben Baker
“Teaching children about traffic safety early in life is an important step in preventing future crashes and pedestrian incidents. We’re excited to see how this innovative, hands-on approach impacts young Kentuckians and their families in the Dayton community. This project complements other initiatives the Cabinet is undertaking to equip all road users with a safe, connected, comfortable, equitable, and accessible transportation network.”
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray
“Youth deserve to get safely to their destination without having to get in a car. Communities need safe spaces where children can learn the skills and gain the confidence they need to be safe road users for decades to come. I’m proud that GHSA and the National Road Safety Foundation can play a role in making biking, walking and scooting safer for Dayton’s children.”
Jonathan Adkins, GHSA Chief Executive Officer
Safety and joy bloom in traffic gardens.
We hope the Dayton Traffic Garden will help prioritize safety and accessibility within the city and inspire healthier and more equitable communities across the region. As more local governments expand their trail and bikeway networks, traffic gardens can play an important role in educating young people on how to use pedestrian and cycling infrastructure safely.
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