BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Thaden School hopes to make a nearby intersection safer.
“It's been a long time coming,” said Thaden sophomore Laura Bailey. “We've had to go through a lot of city municipalities, the traffic safety signage committee, the public art Advisory Board and the city council to get this approved.”
On Saturday, April 22, Thaden School students shut down the intersection of Eighth and Main. Students have been planning for this day for six months.
"We just wanted to make the intersection safer for the kids at our school because they crossed this really frequently,” Bailey said.
With the school being close to the 8th Street Market, downtown Bentonville and Walmart's future headquarters, students took their education from the classroom to the streets using 'urban tacticalism.'
“Citizen-led solutions to problems that they see in their community,” said Thaden School Employee, Sam Slaton explaining what urban tacticalism is. He says the idea was student-driven and believes the newly painted artwork will make the intersection safer. “It forces everybody to slow down a little bit, look at where they are, think about what they're doing, and then proceed safely and cautiously through the intersection.”
The students also placed ‘see me’ flags for the intersection.
Slaton says some in the community have already expressed how their work has made them feel safer.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com.