West 20th Avenue Pedestrian Crossing

Scott --

I have been out of the office, but when your question came into the project's website I contacted the project team to find out if these signs or other changes could be made. I'll touch base with the team members today, and I'll let you know.

Scott -- I wanted to let you know what I learned from the transportation team. The team let me know it will continue to monitor the traffic control and detour for this project as the work continues. Unfortunately, temporary speed reduction signs aren’t allowed in these situations under required federal signage standards that apply to city streets. It would also require traffic studies before putting them in place that would take longer than the project will last. As you know, Lakewood Police agents have been monitoring the speeds on the detour route.

Wanita, thanks for your question and interest in the project. You might have noticed in the Ask a Question section on this project page that this question has come up before. With traffic signals, it’s important to remember that they can make safety worse rather than better, and that’s the case here. The current signal is used so little, it causes more harm than good. As is noted on the project page, several traffic studies have shown that pedestrians seldom use the crosswalk or the signal because of its location. Motorists so rarely see the traffic signal change from green to red that they don’t notice when it turns red for a pedestrian and fail to stop, the studies found. Under these conditions, a traffic signal puts pedestrians at more risk of being hit because they are expecting cars to stop, and they proceed into the roadway when motorists don’t even notice the red light. That is why the crossing is being changed, and the new design will increase safety for pedestrians.

Thank you for participating in this project. Speeding has been noted east of the project near Simms Street, which at times does have radar signs. Unfortunately, radar signs lose their effectiveness after several weeks. For this reason, radar signs are temporary and rotated out. The design of the pedestrian refuge island and median at the pedestrian crossing will also maintain a reduced width of the road, which will also encourage motorists to drive at a reasonable speed through the area. We continue to look at options to address speeding in this section, and we encourage you to call the Lakewood Police Department’s nonemergency line at 303-980-7300 if you witness speeding or a crash that doesn’t involve an injury. You can also call this number to request additional patrols during specific times.

Mark, we are absolutely focused on making sure the crossing complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. As Lakewood upgrades pedestrian facilities across the city, we are always mindful that people have a variety of abilities. We follow design guidance from the Federal Highway Administration when determining approach slope and refuge areas for anyone using a wheelchair, pushing a stroller, pulling a wagon or using a walker. The sidewalk will be 6-feet wide and the ramps will be redone as well. Thank you for the question!  

Thanks for your question about accidents. There have not been recent pedestrian crashes within the three-block area. Pedestrian crashes are relatively infrequent and rarely occur at the same location twice. There are often multiple contributing factors that lead to a pedestrian crash, but most can be traced to the motorist not expecting the need to stop.

All pedestrians within the three-block area have been included in this project, and pedestrians crossing at scattered locations results in the driver’s focus not being on a specific crossing, which is less safe than when crossings are consolidated at one location. Consolidating pedestrians to one location (Urban Drive) works with what drivers expect, and the relocated crosswalk and refuge island eliminates the false expectation that drivers will stop at the red light currently created by the signal.

Sarah, thank you for your interest in this project. We have not seen speeding in the project area because of the narrow width of the road, but speeding has been noted east of project near Simms Street, which at times does have radar signs. But radar signs lose their effectiveness after several weeks. For this reason, radar signs are temporary and rotated out. We would not install permanent radar signs in the project area for two reasons:

• Actual project area tends to have speed compliance due to narrow roadway width.
• Speed display signs lose their effectiveness after several weeks once drivers have been reminded of their operating speed.

Good morning,

Thank you for your question! The removal of the current signal, and not replacing it, are at the heart of this project. The current signal is underutilized and causes more harm than good, per multiple studies and the latest in traffic engineering standards. From the project page, "Several traffic studies have shown that pedestrians seldom use the crosswalk or the signal because of its location. Motorists also so rarely see the traffic signal change from green, they don’t notice when it turns red for a pedestrian and fail to stop, the studies found. Under these conditions, a traffic signal for pedestrians serves as more of a hazard than a help."

Instead, the city plans to install a marked median island to aid crossing. From the project page, "The median will provide more safety for crossing pedestrians, particularly for children, because it will reduce their exposure time to vehicles by more than half. Children can also focus on crossing one half of the street at a time. The median will also reduce the road width, which will result in reducing vehicle speeds."

If you witness speeding, you can call the Lakewood PD non-emergency line at (303) 980-7300 to request additional patrols at the location during particular times. Thank you again for reaching out.

Hello Joel, that is a great question. You are correct; under most circumstances, if a marked crosswalk is found to be underutilized we would completely remove all pavement markings and signage. As you may have noticed, most marked crosswalks are at intersections, and it is lawful for a pedestrian to cross the street at an intersection whether the crosswalk is marked or unmarked. The scenario in this location, however, is different. The current traffic signal is not at an intersection. Once removed, by law it will be unlawful to cross the street at its present, midblock location. For this reason, we must guide a pedestrian to the new location for crossing the street, which will be at the intersection of Urban Drive. 

The proper use of crosswalk markings is not to stop a car but rather to guide and consolidate pedestrians to a preferred crossing location. In this location, pedestrians will be more predictable to motorists if they cross in the same location. During the study, people crossed at scattered locations, and it made sense to relocate the markings to an intersection where the majority of people were observed to cross and in alignment with walking to and from Stober Elementary School. 

Regarding cost, this project is part of a larger stormwater drainage project. Regardless of the pedestrian component, the roadway and traffic signal were going to be torn up during construction, and it made little sense to allocate $300,000 to replace the traffic signal, which was being overlooked by motorists or not used by pedestrians. The median that will be built has the added benefit of narrowing the roadway to reduce speeds, and it makes sense to create a refuge area for the people who are crossing the street. The design will be safer for present conditions by removing the danger of an underutilized signal and allow us the option in the future to enhance the crossing if it is found to grow in popularity.

This is a great question Dianna; thank you for asking. Multiple options exist when signing or signaling a pedestrian crossing. But few of those are appropriate at this intersection due to the low number of pedestrians during school times and because typical delays for crossing the street do not exceed 60 seconds. In fact, if a crossing did not already exist at this location, it would not meet any criteria for a new installation. For a warning beacon to be effective for school crossings, it must be heavily used by students. 

Another design factor is the reduced exposure time to a vehicle that a pedestrian will have while within the street with the new crossing; it will take about 3 seconds for a person to cross to reach the median. Beacons are set to flash only while a pedestrian is within the roadway. A beacon’s flash with the new crosswalk would be so brief that it would not be practical. The flash would be short that it would be more likely to serve as a distraction to drivers and momentarily remove their attention from the crosswalk. Extending the flash would result in poor compliance because a beacon that continues to flash after a pedestrian has left the lane in the roadway does not command respect of the driver. Like an underutilized traffic signal, the device would also be ignored.   

The danger in an overlooked device is that a pedestrian remains confident that the device works.  A pedestrian enters the street with a false sense of security, and a collision occurs. This is a deadly scenario when considering small children. In this particular scenario, the pedestrian is much safer being on guard and looking left and right before entering the street. This is why the refuge islands are a better design; they are less misleading to the pedestrian, the pedestrian is exposed for less time to traffic, and the refuge island provides an area of protected, enhanced visibility while completing the crossing.

The median to be built for crossing at Urban Drive will extend the narrow design of the road in this area, which is effective in reducing vehicle speeds. It will also provide a safer crossing, particularly for children and older adults because they can cross one lane at a time and lower their exposure time to vehicles by more than half. The islands close to this crossing already reduce speeds in this section of 20^th Avenue. The city’s speed studies along 20^th show that the majority of speeds through this segment by the existing islands remains slightly below the posted speed limit.

The city has examined using a flashing beacon but found that a better solution was to relocate the crosswalk to the corner of Urban Drive because this is a location motorists expect to see pedestrians and pedestrians are currently crossing. Traffic signals used in the wrong locations can actually decrease safety, and that is occurring in the current mid-block crossing. The signal has become a liability to safety and a source of danger because motorists are overlooking it and failing to stop when it turns red. Warning beacons are reserved for school crossings that are heavily used by students. Without pedestrians present regularly at crossings, these beacons become overlooked. If a traffic signal isn’t working to stop drivers, the warning beacon isn’t going to be any more effective.