Have you noticed anything different about Henderson over the last few days? Late last week, these beautiful archways were installed on both sides of the street between Noble and Hart!
Built out of steel as a nod to Elmwood’s industrial past, and inlaid with reclaimed elm wood (sourced from an elm tree from Elmwood!), the archway signage is meant to help with neighbourhood beautification, and pride of place. They also help with traffic calming (by providing what traffic engineers call psychological “edge friction”, or a sense of enclosure, to reduce vehicle speeds), which increases safety and reduces noise levels, and in turn helps create a more inviting and pleasant neighbourhood main street where people can feel safe and welcome shopping, dining, walking, waiting for the bus — just generally spending time in.
This project was made possible by Reimagine Elmwood, a grassroots coalition of community groups that includes GeNA, Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal, Beautify Elmwood, Elmwood High School, Elmwood-EK Active Living Center, Elmwood Business Coalition, Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre and others, and of course, the generous support of our city Councillor, Jason Schreyer.
In case you missed it, Reimagine Elmwood is also behind the installation of the eight new benches along Henderson, the marbles in the median, the re-activation of the long-vacant lot at the corner of Johnson & Henderson, and so much more!
Find out more at ReimagineElmwood.org.