Urban designers from across the country will be in Phoenix on Monday to share ideas to improve streets and public spaces.
The City of Phoenix will use the conference to show off two new retrofitted road projects that include bike lanes and public art.
One is at Grand Avenue south of McDowell, and the other is on 1st Street near Margaret T. Hance Park.
Phoenix Transportation Director Wylie Bearup says the improvements create a friendlier space for pedestrians.
“Both of those projects are being done as demonstration projects so they can be changed. They were fairly low cost to put in," Bearup said. "If that design works and we find funding, hopefully sometime soon we will come back and make those changes permanent."
Bearup says his department has lost $200 million over the past five years for road work because of declining gas tax revenues.
He says a few people have already complained about the changes on Grand Avenue because it has been narrowed from five lanes to three lanes for a short distance south of McDowell.