Descrizione
Pedestrians attempting to cross Market/Central/Prescott never gain relief from all traffic on the walk signals, so have to navigate through moving vehicles. Especially due to the new 2-way traffic pattern, this is increasingly dangerous. The light cycles need to accommodate crossings in all directions free of traffic. There are a large number of mobility-impaired residents crossing at this corner all throughout the day.
20 Commentos
Corey (Utente registrato)
Chiusa Alex P (Utente registrato)
Funny, I've had no issues as a pedestrian here. Traffic seems to stop much more with the huge "No turn on red" sign, and walk crossings are clear.
My problem is exact opposite: turning from Market onto Central has gotten more difficult. The old arrow is gone, and the no turn sign applies 24/7. So you're sitting at a dead intersection at 7am on a Sunday morning with no legal ability to turn, and wait and wait. I need to open a separate ticket about this actually. My preferred solution would to at least limit the sign by time and/or day of week.
Considering how often downtown pedestrians completely disregard right of way and wander into traffic outside of crosswalks, I would not make life even more difficult for motorists.
Reopened jkgavin (Utente registrato)
Corey (Utente registrato)
I don't understand why people can just close tickets. Let's leave this open until the City provides input.
In general though, some of the prohibited turns probably do need time-based signage. For example, the prohibitions on turning left on John and Bridge are going to be a pain when there is light opposing traffic.
Alex P (Utente registrato)
lva1113 (Utente registrato)
Corey (Utente registrato)
I also wonder if TD Bank is going to reverse their drive-through somehow or close it (I would love them if they tore that ugly thing out). That's an accident waiting to happen having a driveway that close to an intersection on the wrong side of the road. Feels like Middlesex Plaza now.
People trying to turn left into Canal Place's driveway on Market have a lot of potential to lock up the Palmer Street intersection by having two cars trying to turn left just behind each other but I figure people will use common sense on that one.
Craig H (Utente registrato)
lowellmom (Utente registrato)
Corey (Utente registrato)
Noticed this on the front page of The Globe at Brew'd this morning. Timely: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/08/18/some-boston-pedestrian-accidents-aren-reported-state/oY53CQ9ijoaPNF3gfIAQzL/story.html
A lot of this in Lowell unfortunately has to do with poor driver and often pedestrian behavior. You would think after one or two misses, people would be more careful. I'm not a fan of the "Pedestrians Everywhere!" signs we've added. Downtown Lowell is a visually overloaded environment as it is which helps explain why drivers don't "see" pedestrians.
Corey (Utente registrato)
Corey (Utente registrato)
Craig H (Utente registrato)
Corey (Utente registrato)
Rodney Conley (Utente registrato)
Riconosciuto Eric Eby (Utente registrato)
Craig H (Utente registrato)
Thanks, Eric for your kind, thoughtful and thorough reply. It's appreciated that all these intersections are interconnected and any changes have to be carefully made
Increased enforcement and possibly additional signage to indicate to drivers their responsibility to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks would be an important improvement in the situation. In addition, Corey's suggestion (coincident with the Speck plan) to consider bumping out the pedestrian area on the east side of Prescott Street would seem to be a valuable one. Because of the speed of the traffic coming down Central and onto Prescott heading towards Merrimack, and pedestrians' inclination to "cut" the angle and walk straight across (and coincidentally into a blind spot caused by the building) to the eastern side of that intersection, some additional accommodation would seem to be important. (The crosswalk takes a longer angle back towards the main intersection, and generally away from the direction people are walking when they choose to cross there). This wouldn't require changing the duration of the signals, but it would require some alteration to the curbing and sidewalks, possibly on both sides of the street. (Adding out from the eastern side, and taking away from the little pie slice of park in the middle of the intersection between Prescott and the rump end of Central).
Having observed several near accidents already this week (with lighter traffic before school returns to session) I think it's critically important that attention gets paid to this as soon as possible.
Thanks!!!
Corey (Utente registrato)
Craig H (Utente registrato)
Craig H (Utente registrato)