Committee approves short-term pedestrian safety upgrades around Buckner Park

The Buildings & Grounds Committee approved short-term pedestrian safety improvements for four intersections around Buckner Park after staff presented crash and pedestrian counts gathered during summer observations and a five-year crash history.

City staff reported the northwest corner at Broadway and Oakland recorded eight crashes over the last five years; northeast Broadway and Greenfield had four crashes; the southeast corner (Racine and Greenfield) had one crash; staff also recorded pedestrian volumes as high as 122 crossings on a single leg during a busy Saturday. To improve safety in the short term, staff recommended: adding secondary left-side stop signs on select approaches to increase sign visibility, painting high-visibility crosswalks where pavement timing allows, installing pedestrian crossing signs and advanced warning signs, and restricting parking in targeted areas to improve sight lines.

Alex said a number of the crashes were right-angle or rear-end collisions and that parking restrictions and additional signing were intended to improve driver sight lines and pedestrian visibility. Committee members noted some high-cost or reconfiguration items would be deferred until planned road reconstruction on Greenfield Avenue.

The committee moved, seconded and approved staff's recommended short-term measures, with the understanding that painting and other work that requires seasonal equipment will be scheduled in spring when the paint machine is back in service.

Next steps: staff will schedule high-visibility pavement markings in spring, install recommended signing and coordinate any parking restriction changes; longer-term geometric changes would be considered with roadway reconstruction plans.