News

Crosswalk Warrants

October 31, 2010

America Walks is collecting information about “crosswalk warrants.”  Can you help? 

Crosswalk warrants are the technical requirements a City Traffic Engineer refers to, when deciding whether or not to install a crosswalk in a particular location.  Typical parameters include speed and volume of traffic, width and configuration of the street, locations of nearby pedestrian generators or destinations, locations of other crosswalks and/or intersections. 

One parameter that has caused consternation to some America Walks members is a requirement that, at some point during the day, 50 pedestrians per hour are observed crossing the street before the crosswalk can be installed.  Clearly, there is a logical flaw here – if a crosswalk is needed, it is likely that the street is too dangerous to cross without a crosswalk, hence there is very little chance 50 pedestrians per hour will be crossing.  Maybe a more suitable warrant would be a petition signed by 50 residents living with 1-2 blocks of the proposed crosswalk location, stating they would use a crosswalk if it were installed.

Please send your crosswalk warrant stories to ithomas(at)americawalks.fabapps.com.