Description
Just after 3:00 on school days when Daniels Middle School student's head home. Some of the students who walk home need to cross Glenwood Avenue at St. Mary's and Anderson Street intersections. The existing crosswalk signals do not give adequate time to cross Glenwood Avenue. Not only that many of the streets at this intersection do not have any Pedestrian signal. More pedestrian crosswalk signals need to be added, the existing ones need the timing changed so they give more time for students to cross and all the pedestrian crosswalks need to be coordinated in order to provide a safe environment for these students to walk home. With more limited WCPSS bus service, more students are walking home. Let's get this busy intersection fixed by making it more pedestrian friendly before someone gets hurt. Concerned Daniels Middle School parent.
18 Comments
Anna (Registered User)
LPM (Registered User)
Beth Baker (Registered User)
Susanne (Registered User)
M. H. (Guest)
Lindsay (Registered User)
Jodiraquel (Registered User)
Sondra (Guest)
Angie (Registered User)
Acknowledged City of Raleigh 2 (Verified Official)
Maggie B (Registered User)
On Wednesday, I walked across Glenwood at both crossing signals at this multi-street intersection. At the northern most signal to cross Glenwood at the Anderson Dr. and St. Mary's street multi-street intersection, the signal gives you only 16 seconds to cross Glenwood Ave. If you need to cross St. Mary's, there is another pedestrian signal that gives you 10 seconds to get across St. Mary's. You need to be on the look out when crossing here because when pedestrians have the signal to cross St. Mary's so does the traffic on Anderson Dr. heading east into the Glenwood Avenue intersection. Students crossing hear may not see or understand that a car could be turning right from Anderson to St. Mary's street. Once across St. Mary's there very little space for students to remain there while they look out for on coming cars from multiple directions. At this point,students are on there own to figure out how to proceed down Anderson Dr. or St Marys St. The south side of St. Mary's Street does not have pedestrian walk way. Students who need to get to homes on the south side of St. Mary's will not have an traffic signal to help them. Not only that, there is no pedestrian signal to help students cross to the south side of Anderson Dr. and the corner does not allow for easy access to the Anderson Dr. north side curb for students to walk down the north side of Anderson Dr. I don't know about you, but just writing all this out makes me worry more about how the students manage this complex intersection.
When I used the pedestrian crossing signal at the southern crosswalk at Glenwood and St. Mary's, I found more trouble. Before the students even get to this intersection, they need to cross St. Mary's St. without a pedestrian crossing signal. The scariest part about this intersection is that cars coming from St. Mary's, Anderson Dr. and Glenwood can all turn right here without yielding. These cars are not given any warning that a pedestrian may be crossing here and enter the turn blindly to pedestrian's crossing. Once the students cross St. Mary's the pedestrian crossing signal from St. Mary's to Glenwood Ave. gives you only 15 seconds to cross.
As Raleigh continues to grow, intersections like this will have more cars traveling through them. I would like to see them become pedestrian friendly. So that neighborhood residents who choose to get outside and walk or run can do so safely. Most importantly, making this multi-street intersection pedestrian friendly is the right thing to do for the safety and well being of our children.
jlaw (Guest)
But I think in a situation like this a crossing guard would be best the roads and drivers are quite crazy and dangerous around here. So many people drive so fast and are quite impatient.
Kelly (Guest)
R Lewis (Guest)
Alicia (Registered User)
Maggie B (Registered User)
sjoyner (Guest)
Closed City of Raleigh 2 (Verified Official)
We who administer SeeClickFix asked the City's Transportation Operations staff to review these comments and to provide analysis and feedback. Staff's response is below. Please note that complicated issues such as transportation operations are not well suited for online discussions or for SeeClickFix. The City's Transportation Operations staff are always available to speak with citizens directly and discuss concerns. Contact information for staff is also below.
Pedestrian signal heads and the time allotted for a road crossing are all dictated by the Federal Highway Administration with input from the ADA. To get a pedestrian walk signal, the phase has to be actuated (button pressed). When the corresponding phase is served, the pedestrian signal head displays a walk indication (white lit person). This is usually 4-7 seconds however it can be adjusted. The countdown portion is based on the geometrics of the intersection. FHWA and ADA require a the countdown portion to accommodate a person that walks as slow as 3.5 feet per second. Earlier this year, City staff worked with the Principal of Daniels and NCDOT to add a leading pedestrian interval. This is a rarely used feature that holds all vehicular phases and lets the pedestrian start before the concurrent vehicular movement. This intersection is very complex as it has five legs and is offset. The City and NCDOT are using all available tools to ensure the crossing is safe including high visibility marked crosswalks. In addition, pedestrian accommodations were recently added to cross the northern leg of St. Mary’s Street. All the other legs that have sidewalk or do not violate a conflicting vehicular movement have pedestrian signal heads.
City staff will look at the walk time and if a few more seconds can be given. Aside from that, this intersection has everything we can use to make it pedestrian friendly. For further inquiry, please contact Jed Niffenegger at (919) 996-4039 or via email at jed.niffenegger@raleighnc.gov