Ribbon Cutting with Photos!

 Thursday, August 31, 2023 -   Denise Fletcher

What follows is a transcript and photos from our July 14, 2023, ribbon cutting ceremony for the new crosswalks and RRFBs on Business 30 and Broadway in Toledo.

July 14, 2023 – Ribbon Cutting

Today we celebrate Toledo’s first Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon. We are so thankful to many of you who have been with us every step of the way. My name is Denise Fletcher a member of the Tama/Toledo Healthy Hometown Committee. If you are also a member, would you raise your hand and to be recognized for your efforts.

The seed of this crosswalk was planted in December of 2020 when both the Tama & Toledo City Councils agreed to support our involvement in the Iowa Living Roadways Community Visioning Program. Throughout this process we learned how to organize citizen driven projects with the support of Trees Forever, Iowa State University and Iowa DOT.

An important part of the first six months was information gathering - sending out random surveys and recruiting groups with different needs and behaviors. During the discussions they shared positive aspects of our community but also our unique challenges or barriers.
The next step was to meet with Site Design Group – landscape architects from Chicago. They took the ideas from the focus groups and put them into clearly defined projects to use in securing funding. We are thankful that along the way we received guidance on best practices from Wellmark, the financial support from AARP to make this project a reality, ITC Midwest for additional engineering fees, and the City of Toledo who put the pieces together. Kendall and the city workers did the heavy lifting. We can’t thank you enough!

The purpose of this crosswalk is two-fold: first for the safety of pedestrians and bikers and second to encourage physical activity. The route is used by kids going to the pool, to play basketball, to the Tama Park and will be used to get to the future Middle School. This crosswalk gives adults access to vital services.

After Jace Thomas cuts the ribbon, we want each of you to take a piece, date it and display it somewhere you can see it. It represents what can happen when we work together with our city government to improve our quality of life! Before that Connie Eastman from Iowa AARP would like to say a few words.