JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The ribbon was cut on Wednesday morning on a new site aimed at helping student pedestrians navigate roadways safely in Jacksonville. The Blue Zone Project’s first memorial traffic garden was built at Ed White High School in honor of a student athlete, Alaysha Williams, who was killed in a traffic accident in 2024.
“She was on her way to school, trying to run after the school bus. She was hit by three cars trying to make it to the bus stop,” Williams’ mom Tiereny Williams explained.
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The student athlete played basketball and flag football.
A traffic garden is a painted mimic of streets to help students practice walking or cycling. The garden’s co-artist was proud to paint it in Alaysha’s honor.
“It just adds more meaning to the project, and as anybody doing anything, you want to do something meaningful for the community,” artist David Nackashi said.
“When students can come out to these locations and actually walk through a crosswalk, what the markings of a crosswalk look like, what a stop sign looks like, how we yield might work together through that information. Not only are they better for when they become drivers, but they’re better backseaters,” Marlo Zarka, public policy lead at Blue Zones Project Jacksonville, added.
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The memorial garden’s construction comes at a time of eye-opening statistics. Jacksonville was ranked 16th in the deadliest Metro areas for pedestrians by Smart Growth America.
“2025, I think it’s gonna be the lowest year in about a decade for pedestrian fatalities, and that’s even with the population growth, so we’re doing something right. We don’t want to celebrate too long, though we know that there’s a lot of work to do,” Matt Fall, Jacksonville Bike/Pedestrian safety coordinator, said.
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