Request referred to Neighborhood Transportation

I agree that this crosswalk is very dangerous. I use it regularly to walk my dog to the park. I'd love to use it to walk my children there as well but wouldn't dare as I've already had a couple of close calls on my own. Additional signage and a median would GREATLY improve the safety of this area where there are so many children and visitors in general to such a great park.

I just watched a woman in this very crosswalk struggle to get out of the way of an oncoming car who did not pay any attention to her despite that fact that the lights were flashing. Very scary!

Students who live in the Crescent Lake neighborhood also use this crossing if they are walking to their zoned school at Woodlawn Elementary. I agree with everyone that it is very dangerous and I've seen a number of close calls. Improving this crosswalk for park visitors and for the community to make it safer is a great idea.

My family lives in Crescent lake and my daughters attend Woodlawn elementary school. For the last three years we routinely ride our bikes the short distance to and from school. We wait, sometimes minutes, watching for a long traffic opening, then push the button at the 17th Ave. crossing light, and cross MLK. Cars go faster than expected or turn onto MLK as we cross the 5 traffic lanes and we have have had some scary near misses. I believe the current crosswalk design could and should be improved to create better odds that my daughters and I make it across 9th St. without incident.

Since we all leave for school at the same time, I have also caught my breath witnessing the gap close as other students run across MLK trying to beat late for work car drivers.

It would be beneficial to have law enforcement patrol this section of MLK more frequently for speeders. It is like the Indy 500 out there, people routinely drive 50+, through a densely populated residential area with school children and pedestrians traveling to school, the nearby parks, and businesses. Long term urban planning for this area should consider other means to make foot travel between the historic St. Pete neighborhoods safer.

I am so glad someone is voicing this! We had a very close call with our son last year... since then we avoid the crosswalk with the kids. There is no way to see the flashing lights when in a car traveling north until its almost too late. The street isn't well lighted there anyway.... and the flashing lights are lost in the trees. It's an accident' waiting to happen. Please, before someone looses a child or a loved one, work to do whatever it takes to make this a safe crossing zone.

For a road with four lanes and a center turn lane, MLK needs a much more robust pedestrian crossing treatment. I recommend the resource

http://www.walkable.org/library/Documents/pedestrianmidblockcrossings.pdf

which is a guide to pedestrian mid block crossings that are safe and designed for the type of roadways that they service. There is a complete streets initiative in St. Petersburg right now which could dramatically increase the safety and walkability of MLK if that corridor is chosen as a candidate for a complete streets treatment.

I strongly support an improvement to not only the safety of the crossings between 22nd Ave N and 9th Ave N on MLK but also an overall improvement to the walkability, streetscaping and economic revitalization of this corridor which begins with creating an environment in which people feel safe and encouraged to walk, bike and interact. The knitting of the Euclid St. Paul and Crescent Lake neighborhoods will only create a stronger and more connected community! As a resident of Crescent Lake on 19th Ave N near MLK I would love to see this roadway become more pedestrian friendly and vibrant!

I've witnessed many near misses on this stretch of MLK, even within the designated cross walk. I agree with a previous comment suggesting that law enforcement should watch this area more closely for speeding and vehicles that ignore the cross walk signals. My daughter needs to use the cross walk to get from her bus stop to home, but there is NO WAY I'm going to let her do it alone. This issue needs to be addressed for the safety of all residents in Euclid and Crescent Lake.

I live in the Euclid St Paul Neighborhood an I am a jogger, mother of two young children and a dog owner. I love utilizing Crescent Lake Park for recreation, however, the cross over MLK is a huge deterrent to walking. I was hopeful that the the crosswalk would decrease the danger, however, I have to found that to be the case. Between the excessive car speed and the double lanes, the visibility of the crosswalk (and it's walkers) is poor. I would love to see a median strip, better enforcement of speeding drivers.

I just had a near miss at this crosswalk!! My daughter and I were walking home from her bus stop and needed to cross 9th St N. We waited for the traffic to lighten up and then pushed the light for the cross walk. One side of the road was clear - on the other side, just a few cars. The car in the lead came to a stop at the crosswalk, we started to cross and then the car becoming up behind it swerved into the next lane and race through the crosswalk. She missed hitting us, but did wave to us before flying by. That road is so scary to cross!!

Please fix this cross walk!! A planted median in the center would allow another sign and (more obvious) flashing light to be displayed.

Hello again. I was wondering if there any been any decisions by the city to improve the safety of this intersection. I have seen some great new crosswalks go up in the area. Are there any plans for this location? This continues to be an important issue for residents who use this cross-walk regularly. Additionally, school is starting next week and we are again faced with children needing to safely cross this road to get from their bus stop to their house.

In Seattle near the airport, they had illuminated reflectors going all the way across the road. These added lighted reflectors bring attention. I would like a push button stop light that would sync with the signal at 22nd and 9th to slow down speeders and promote the speed limit.

Perhaps folks should petition for a lighted flashing crosswalk as they have on 22nd Ave N ?

Any update?!

Still waiting for the city to do something.

Dear Mayor's Action Center and Transportation Dept - please provide a respose/update to this issue!

Hello City of St Pete leadership, I'm person who initially submitted this issue. We still have children needing to cross 9th St to get to and from their bus stop, and this continues to be a cross-walk that people speed through. Are their any updates on what can be done here? I have seen improved cross-walks installed on 4th St. Are there plans for something similar on 9th St? If not, can the current one be made safer - better signage, lights on both side of the road, flags? Thank you.

A man was hit by a vehicle while using this crosswalk last Friday. This issue was raised more than a year and a half ago without any action. Use of this crosswalk is dangerous to citizens and needs to be rectified by the city. The road is wide enough to accommodate a median where a third alert sign can be placed. What can the citizens do to force this issue to a safe resolution so that no one else suffers the same fate?

Thank you for your past submission via SeeClickFix. The City of St Petersburg periodically reviews past reports that are made from citizens within our city limits, and in an effort to clean-up old issues that were resolved some time ago, we are marking as 'closed' those issues that were submitted in the past for which the work has been completed or the issue has otherwise been resolved.

If you think for any reason that the issue you submitted in the past might still be unresolved, please feel free to submit a new report with the SeeClickFix St. Pete website and we will make sure the issue is directed to the appropriate City department to be addressed as soon as possible.

Thank you again - Sincerely,
Mayor's Action Center

I am reopening this. I can not fathom why it was closed in the first place, nothing has changed. This remains a very dangerous intersection. I am not going to revisit the problems which have been repeatedly described above.
Needs better solar lighting
More reflective markings
More and better signage
Painted crosswalk that is not faded and indistinct

Addition of oversized pedestrian warning signs, perhaps crossing flags

Reopen acknowledged

You know something....the city should take this very serious, and have police out there doing two things. Since it is against the law for cars to speed through the cross walk while the lights are flashing with or without people crossing I think the city would appreciate the extra revenue they will make for this compliance. I am a avid bike rider, but my pet peeve is these cross walks when flashing and cars speed right through. The second is for speeding and also consider this, if they do stop them, chances are police will catch them with their seat belt off. Don't forget the texting they do that too and never see the flashing lights. Also these lights can promote fender benders, so the cops could have a field day with that too. However, there is another issue that is going on. I think, because our schools are now being patrolled police officers, there is a shortage of cops now which can be another problem the city has to deal with. Since we got rid of cameras, that is out too. However, I think the city should encourage participation from pedestrians with cell phones on video, to document the drivers running through these cross walks, and use the licence plates on the back of the car....as evidence and also there is a human being, making a observation of such. It appears we can upload the video as seen below...as documented proof.....and have the police send a ticket to the licence plate holder. If a citizen arrest is required, then the person video taping it should be prepared to comply all in favor of correcting the correctable (people not paying attention)....

Thank you for your past submission via SeeClickFix. The City of St Petersburg periodically reviews past reports that are made from citizens within our city limits, and in an effort to clean-up old issues that were resolved some time ago, we are marking as 'closed' those issues that were submitted in the past for which the work has been completed or the issue has otherwise been resolved.

If you think for any reason that the issue you submitted in the past might still be unresolved, please feel free to submit a new report with the SeeClickFix St. Pete website and we will make sure the issue is directed to the appropriate City department to be addressed as soon as possible.

Thank you again - Sincerely,
Mayor's Action Center

This is not resolved, and it is a bad idea to close this and reopen another since it would lose all the valuable community input that has been posted. This issue was opened about a year and a half ago.
Why can't the city tell us something? If action on this is deferred tell us so, and explain why. I know they are doing long term planning for MLK, so if this is causing the delay, tell us.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street will be resurfaced this summer and this crosswalk will be removed and replaced with two new crosswalks. One between 15th Avenues N and one between 18th Avenues N. These are mid-block and will include center medians and flashing beacons and be safer than this location with no center median, because of the dedicated left turn lane. No exact time line is available because of the weather delays possible, but there is no need to refresh this location at this point and the Police have advised us that they continue to monitor and enforce the speed limit.

Thanks! That is all we needed.

These plans had been in development and just finalized last week.

Thanks for fixing this request!