seriously you are kidding. u say 5 seconds more???? I say walk faster or USE THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE THAT WAS BUILT FOR THIS PURPOSE !!!

Beside this is a state controlled intersection

The $1 million dollar pedestrian bridge is only open to use by the Board of Education and the school. It isn't available to residents who wish to go to West River park -- an insurance and maintenance issue I hear. So people of all ages and abilities need to cross the Boulevard using the crosswalk. Try it yourself, I bet you'd argue for an additional 20 seconds, at least.

The signal needs to be AT LEAST 30 seconds long, arguably more if people are crossing diagonally. This is a pedestrian-activated signal, so this does not happen every light cycle, only when someone presses the button to cross. While these are indeed state roads, the City controls the intersection timing, so this should be an easy fix.

Re: your "walk faster" comment, dear "guest", you are the one who must be kidding. Maybe you can hang around the intersection and help hustle across the moms with strollers, kids and seniors who would like to access the park, but only have 20 seconds to do so before the horn-honking starts.

Thanks for the post. The Traffic Signal Division will review the request.

Chris- once a pedestrian is in a crosswalk they have the right of way- so your argument of people blowing horns is mute, drivers just need to wait- If the police enforced traffic laws occasionally we wouldn't have problems like this.- just because people won't yield to pedestrians in cross walks and obey the law is not a legitimate argument.

As for my walk faster comment- asking for 5 more seconds is ridiculous- that's why I said that- it still doesn't allow enough time. I have used that intersection. ASK FOR WHAT YOU NEED - if the reporter did his math he would have requested at least the 40 seconds needed for that distance at that rate and it would have made sense. The reporter asked for a penny when he needs a dollar so I called him out on it as more time is necessary and having the city go back several times to do something they can do once is a waste of time and money.

I was unaware that is a "private" bridge- maybe some discussion with the board of ed can provoke a way to allow the taxpayers who paid for it and continue to pay for upkeep of that bridge to use it for access to a PUBLIC SPACE- or maybe the new Mayor can help if she 's going to do what she said she would.

Thank you, TT&P. We are advocating for a 3 feet/second standard to be applied here for the widest crossing given the high presence of children and seniors crossing to the park. Please see attached.

Thank you for clarification, guest. I agree with you in that case that an additional five seconds is too little. Re: the bridge being opened to the public, we are exploring that option and have discussed with Mayor-Elect Harp, but it would be substantial $ given how this thing was built. A well-meaning, but short-sighted, very expensive, and mostly useless piece of architecture is what we have there. The cheapest, quickest and most effective solution in the short-term is to add time to that ped signal.

Re: the honking, true once a ped is in the crosswalk they have the legal right-of-way, but the reality is it becomes much more intimidating and dangerous if the light changes when you are still in the crosswalk.

"Don't go near it" was the advice offered in 2011 by Former Police Chief Frank Limon at Yale Traffic Safety Conference. This intersection and Foxon Road are the most dangerous places for drivers and pedestrians alike. See:

http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/philip-langdon/14287/when-will-transportation-departments-start-making-roads-safe

Short term, the signals need to be adjusted and the bridge opened to all pedestrians, 7 days a week. Long term, the roadway needs to be redesigned to make it safe for all users.

The distance was verified at the longest actual pedestrian crossing at 104 feet. The pedestrian walk time was increased to 7 seconds and the pedestrian clearance (Don't Walk) was increased to 29 seconds; which, satisfies the new 3.5'/s requirements.

Thanks for fixing this issue!