Case Study: Increasing Pedestrian Safety At Crosswalks
Western Systems Partnered With The City Of Everett, Washington To Install Carmanah RRFBS
Background
Everett, Washington Revamps Downtown Streets to Accommodate Growth
Downtown Everett, Washington, is quickly growing. Over the past decade, the city has added approximately 1,000 housing units and expects more than 15,000 people to move into the area within the next 20 years.
The city has prioritized a number of important infrastructure projects to support and encourage growth while making the area a more walkable community, especially within the historic downtown core.
Two of the streets prioritized for improvements under the City’s Downtown Everett Streetscape Plan are Rucker and Hoyt Avenues. Both streets are major thoroughfares and have a mix of residential and commercial buildings and, until recently, have little in the way of pedestrian infrastructure outside of signalized intersections.
The Challenge
Help Pedestrian Cross Busy Streets Safety
Similar to many city’s with busy thoroughfares, downtown Everett has encountered a number of pedestrian and vehicle-related accidents. Over the past several years, multiple incidents have led police to begin a crackdown on non-yielding drivers. Rucker Avenue in particular, was highlighted by police as a trouble spot.
What Everett needed was a way to provide pedestrians in the downtown area with safe and direct routes between homes, workplaces and amenities, while also increasing awareness and reducing speeds among drivers. As it turned out, Carmanah’s rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFBs) was able to fit the city’s needs.
The Solution
Install Carmanah Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs)
Rucker Avenue was identified by the city as a candidate for “full reconstruction” early on. This meant going from a four-lane road with parallel parking on both sides to a two-lane road with a median, angle parking, and midblock crosswalks (complete with curb extensions or bulb-outs that reduce the crossing distance).
To enhance the visibility of the new mid-block crosswalks to approaching drivers, Western Systems worked with the city to install Carmanah’s high-intensity SC315-G RRFBs on both sides of the road, as well as on the median. When activated by a pedestrian, the LED light bars flash rapidly to alert drivers to a crossing pedestrian.
Because one of the aims of the project was to increase accessibility, ADA-compliant audible pushbuttons were added to each of the poles. These pushbuttons are equipped with a locator tone that alerts visually impaired pedestrians, letting them know to push the button and provides an audible cue to the location of the button.
Outcome
Increased Crosswalk Visibility and Safety
The new midblock crosswalks in downtown Everett were completed in the spring of 2020 and have already helped thousands of pedestrians cross visibly and safely. Pedestrians also now have a logical path towards the waterfront, where the city is investing millions of dollars in economic development.