Good morning Stephen we are still working on this intersection. Please be patient. Pedestrians and the impaired are included in the upgrade as they should be. There are signs posted throughout the intersection. Massachusetts State Law requires Motorists yield to pedestrians at all times when turning. There are ADA Push buttons at every available crossing which will speak saying its safe to cross the name of the street you are crossing. There will be count down signals at each intersection letting the pedestrian know how much time they have to safely cross. The motorists will have the same opportunity as well. There will be LPI built into the system so that the pedestrian will be midway in the crosswalk before the motorist will be able to start turning. City Electrician, John Giardi

Hi John,

Regardless of the law you cant have the walk signal and the green light for cars at the same time. I live on Essex Street and cars speed down Essex to take the left. Someone is going to be hit with the car having a green light at the same time as the pedestrian. I have not idea why the city would make an intersection more dangerous. You can add ADA compliance without changing the pedestrians having a dedicated walk signal. How can I get this changed back?

Thanks,
Steven

Laws do not matter if I get hit by a car because motorists in this area have been conditioned to turn at the intersection without yielding. The green light has always meant there's no pedestrian traffic. I understand there are signs but think about the next time you drive down the road do you notice new signs continually are you scanning for new information. Or are you just kind of on autopilot driving along like you normally do.

For such a major change there should be bigger sign in even if temporary until people are conditioned to actually look for pedestrians at that intersection. The vast majority of all intersections I've come to in Eastern Massachusetts or a complete stop for pedestrians. I don't particularly like all stop for pedestrian. But as a pedestrian Annie motorist I've been conditioned to this.

I highly recommend some temporary orange construction signs denoting the change. There was all kinds of signage when they switched over the intersection to a roundabout last year. And people should be able to just follow the lines on the road right? Please be considerate to those of us who walk in this area. Do not preach about laws. If laws protected me from getting hit I wouldn't need car insurance. And as a pedestrian at this intersection I can't see the oncoming traffic has a green light now. there was no warning for me as The pedestrian that somebody May forgot to yield to me in the crosswalk because they now have a green light.

I am posting this after somebody almost hit me in the crosswalk while I had the walk and they had a green. And we both commiserated over this change. We were both very confused.

I 100% endorse the comments of mhand. This is a very dangerous change and will not be understood by drivers.

Sorry, but have you all ever been to a city other than Salem? I travel for work a lot and in any major city, this is exactly the case and the right thing to do. Go to Boston, NY, even Merrimack, Burlington, Denver, San Francisco, Portland ME, etc...they have all gone to this. Any city that understands traffic and that most of the population drives, does not walk everywhere, especially to a tourist-type place like Salem, has done this. Even Beverly and Newburyport has started doing this. Bravo to Salem for finally starting to make wise traffic decisions. Salem needs to become more traffic-friendly, not just catering to pedestrians, especially given there are so few main arteries in and out of the city. If a walking city like Boston can do it, so can Salem. Their intersections are bigger, with more cars and more pedestrians. It has always been crazy for people who actually drive that there is always this timed extra 30 seconds to a minute just for a pedestrian signal, when often times there is not anyone even there. Or, you have people who just cross anyway when they see a chance....or the best one, where you have people push for the signal and then cross anyway, halting all traffic in every direction for no reason!! Before you start to say 'oh, 30 seconds to a minute is not much'....then you do not understand traffic logistics and have not driven every day during rush hours where it backs up for miles. Again, often for no reason at all. And once Again, if all the other major (and not-so-major cities) can do it, so can Salem. What this is doing is putting the situation into peoples' own best judgment, and crossing when it makes sense. Which, again, is what people seem to do anyway all over the place in Salem. Buttons pushed, noone anywhere to be found, having already crossed when it made sense to do so. Now, they will at least have a pedestrian light telling them to go. How is that any different than this change? I walk around Salem too and if I am going to cross, I cross at a crosswalk and when it makes sense to do so. If I see traffic coming, I do not cross. If I do, I wait. Simple. And if I ever feel the need to actually hit the button, I actually wait until it is my turn to cross!

Caveat to all this (before the flaming begins)...it needs to make sense. First, the walk signals should always go in line with the traffic, not against. I will say that these options usually work best when it is a right turn only situation, not a left like Essex is off of North. That can be trickier. However, that whole area needs to be policed better, meaning actually having officers there to ticket people who love to suddenly cut right to go straight after having been in a left-turn only lane to try and pass everyone, and to ticket people who speed/run that left turn light. I also agree with mhand, in that there should be PLENTY of signage/warnings just like they do in Boston and Portland ME. Just doing it out of nowhere could/is obviously dangerous. That intersection does need to be better policed though...if Salem wants to note that the law is our protection, then that needs to be accompanied by law enforcement.

Just wanted to add my toddler and I were almost hit at this intersection today and then screamed at by motorists because they had they green light. Can't wait to try to cross this intersection to get to daycare during rush hour in a few weeks. PLEASE do something about this as soon as possible.

New York had 15,000 pedestrians hit by motor vehicles last year. 300 of them died. More than a third were in NYC. Very few drivers are killed or injured in these accidents.

Still a problem and my 8 year old was almost hit this morning. Please make this a priority ASAP.

We will do that. We want this completed ASAP. Everyone will be updated soon. City Electrician

This has not been fixed, cars get a green light at the same time pedestrains get a walk, can this please be put back to a dedicated walk signal, someone is going to get hit by a car flying onto 114!

This has not been fixed, cars get a green light at the same time pedestrians get a walk, can this please be put back to a dedicated walk signal ASAP

We were promised, "Everyone will be updated soon." back in June.

These are concurrent signals and are not new to the Commonwealth and are DOT approved and more crossing time has been added. You now have 10 seconds of leading pedestrian time built into the system. there was previously 7 lead time A pedestrian is crossing with a ten second lead time before vehicles are supposed to begin moving.

Thank you for the additional 3 seconds of safety.
This is a case where the speed of traffic movement is being prioritized over pedestrian safety. It would certainly be safer for pedestrians if all vehicle traffic were halted during the pedestrian crossing cycle.
I strongly disagree with this decision to prioritize vehicle traffic. Encouraging faster-moving traffic in downtown Salem is a bad idea, especially where tourists are very numerous and unaware of the risks.

This is not safe for this intersection. I have seen first hand cars turning into pedestrians crossing 114, and the cars beeping at the pedestrians to move. It is only a matter of time before someone is hit. What is the big deal is just making it a dedicated walk for pedestrians. It has worked for many years with no issues. Why make it dangerous!!

DOT approval does not cut it. An additional 3 seconds is all the Pedestrian gets, so the pedestrain can ambulate about 10 ft: the distance will NOT get the pedestrian away from a vehicle.

Almost nobody likes the idea of allowing vehicles to proceed through crosswalks while pedestrians are trying to cross. What is the reason for insisting on this change when it is unpopular and potentially dangerous? Who decided that it was more important to speed up traffic than to protect pedestrians?

Good afternoon Jason that LPI time is 12 seconds since last Tuesday. An engineer consultant for the parking board was telling us that we only need 3 to 4 seconds of lead time for the pedestrian to establish being visible in the crosswalk. I wrote back after numerous complaints we made the change to 12 seconds based upon the elderly and children needed more time to establish their presence in the crosswalk before vehicles begin to move. 12 seconds is a long lead time.

Hello, please set this back to where it was, with the 3-4 seconds lead time. People on this site are in the vast minority, and seem to think that Salem is a city of pedestrians...not DRIVERS. Whenever you give people a platform to open their mouths and sound off, that is what you get...people just complaining all the time. There are, what, 5 complainers on here? You never hear from those that are HAPPY, just those that are mad. Thusly, you have us on here now because we saw progress halted by a few people who walk around....we hope the electrical dept will keep in mind that it is the drivers that are the majority, not the complaining walkers on here who seem to think they are the only people living in the city.

If you want progress, you need to move forward, and as already noted, this type of setup has already become the norm across cities around the country. Boston, everything is set up like this. If everyone else can do it, so can Salem. Change is hard, but you can do it. Please keep moving forward, Electrical Dept, to keep Salem progressing.

As a person who both walks and drives, I think it's pretty clear that drivers are spoiled rotten in Salem, as they are in most other parts of the world. Drivers are granted great wide streets while pedestrians have narrow sidewalks. Drivers have their streets plowed curb-to-curb, while pedestrians have to hope that homeowners will shovel. Drivers create air pollution and noise pollution while frequently causing injuries and deaths in accidents. Pedestrians have almost no negative impacts. Drivers have free places to store their vehicles on public land in almost every neighborhood. Who else gets to store huge pieces of privately-owned property on public land?
With this experience of being spoiled rotten, it is no wonder that some drivers feel it is terribly unfair that pedestrians might have exclusive access to crosswalks for an entire 30 seconds. It's called "entitlement".