A group in St. Louis wanted to make their neighborhood streets safer for biking and walking. They used colorful cones, art, and chalk to calm traffic for a day.

Temporary projects like these, along with things like PARK(ing) Day, highlight ways to use road space for something other than cars.

This particular group, the Healthy Eating, Active Living Partnership is part of the Plan4Health coalition, which is a a partnership of the American Planning Association and the American Public Health Association that gets its funding from the Centers for Disease Control.

The big idea behind Plan4Health is to bring together planners and public health professionals to help communities get more exercise or improve their access to healthy foods by designing public spaces that encourage healthy behaviors. This St. Louis project is aimed at making it safer for people to get out and walk and bike more by slowing down drivers.

There are many streets in our region that could be good targets for this kind of one day project. Where would you want to put out some cones and sidewalk chalk? Let us know in the comments.