Recently at meetings in Upham's Corner,
residents discussed pedestrian safety and identified what they call "a dangerous crosswalk" in
the very heart of the business district.
"Crossing Columbia Road from the Pilgrim Church to the Strand Theatre is a nightmare."
The Upham's Corner Improvement Association decided to take on this
intersection as a project and contacted Upham's Corner News to do some investigation.
This
report looks at the conditions, problems, goals and solutions.
Included is a conversation with a representative of the Boston
Transportation Department and word that the intersection is under
review with a promised upgrade for pedestrian safety.
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Columbia
Road is a wide thoroughfare with opposing lanes of traffic
separated by a median strip across most of its entire length from
Franklin Park to South Boston.
Columbia Road in Upham's Corner begins at Quincy Street to Edward Everett Square and turns east towards South Boston.
As shown in the diagram Columbia Road in the Upham's Corner business district stretches from Bird Street to Holden Street.
In that section of Columbia Road there are five crosswalks associated with vehicular traffic controls.
The
ONLY crosswalk that is repeatedly identified as dangerous is #3 which
crosses from the Pilgrim Church to the right side of the Strand Theatre.
This crosswalk is problematic for three reasons:
- It's functioning is inconsistent with the other four crosswalks
- There is no median strip
- Cars are being given priority over pedestrians
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 In mid October a City contractor upgraded some of the
pedestrian traffic controls along Columbia Road in the Upham's Corner
business district.
What we pedestrians generally refer to as the
"pedestrian button" is now what BTD (Boston Transportation Department) refers to as "audible pedestrian
signals."
How do the new signals work?
- There is (supposed to be) a raised arrow on the button itself
which shows the pedestrian which way to cross (especially important for the blind)
- Pushing the button initiates an audible sequence of directions for crossing the street, usually starting out with "Don't Walk"
- When it is time to cross, the signal will say "Start Crossing"
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As implemented along Columbia Road in the
Upham's Corner business district, pedestrian controls and crossing
standards differ slightly at each intersection but automatic pedestrian
crossing is (relatively) safe EXCEPT at Columbia / Hancock.
Intersection
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Cross safely
when traffic stops?
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Pedestrian Controls
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Comments
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Columbia / Holden
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Yes
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Old, Broken |
Safe crossing to median strip
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Columbia / Dudley
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Yes
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Old, Automatic
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Safe crossing
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Columbia / Hancock
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No
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New, Manual
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Cannot cross unless manual controls used.
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Columbia / Davern
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Yes
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New, Manual
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10' wide median strip - safe stopping point
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Columbia / Bird
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Yes
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New, manual
no "arrow"
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Safe crossing - median strip
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According to a BTD representative, many
intersections in the City of Boston are defined with one of the streets
as major (primary) and the other as a side street (secondary).
The major street has the priority green.
Loop detectors in the roadway detect traffic. If you're on a side street, the loop detector will trigger the traffic
control signal indicating there is a car waiting and that the traffic control signal
needs to service that car.If there are
no cars on the side street, then the mainstream will always have a green
light.
This obviously affects the pedestrian's ability to cross the major road
when there are no cars on the side streets. The pedestrian manual
controls allow the pedestrian to request safe passage at any time.
Note that this type of design is put in place if the
side street has under 250 cars per hour. Greater than that and
the two streets are handled differently.
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The Columbia /
Hancock intersection is complicated by the relationship of Hancock Street to Columbia Road. Vehicular traffic
from Hancock Street is not "through" traffic. Cars can only turn
right or left and most of
the traffic is opting a right turn. In fact the Hancock Street
traffic light is not a green light but rather a green arrow which tells
the driver that s/he has the right of way.
Vehicular Traffic
- As currently designed, cars on Hancock Street line up
for a "green" light. There is a "no right turn on red" sign but
residents report that drivers frequently turn right at any convenient
opportunity.
- When the loop detector determines traffic waiting, it
sets up a "service cycle," stops the traffic on Columbia Road and uses
a "right arrow" to signal traffic on Hancock Street to turn right.
Pedestrian Traffic
- A pedestrian on the Pilgrim Church side of Columbia
Road waits until the Columbia Road traffic stops then proceeds to the
other side
- The pedestrian is UNABLE to cross to the other side
because cars from Hancock Street have the right of way and there is no
median strip for safe stopping as with other Columbia Road crosswalks
View of crosswalk from the Pilgrim Church to the Strand Theatre across Columbia Road
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Hancock Street traffic waiting to turn right onto Columbia Road
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The Upham's Corner Improvement Association had a lot to say about the Columbia /Hancock crosswalk.
"We stand with the pedestrians. The very center
of Upham's Corner needs to be pedestrian friendly. Yes, traffic
needs to flow as smoothly as possible but people need to be able to get
to/from both sides of Columbia Road without having to be afraid to
cross the street.
The City touts the
redevelopment of the Strand Theatre yet isn't providing the proper infrastructure support such as parking and traffic
controls.
Upham's Corner deserves better!" |
One Upham's Corner resident said:
| "I don't even try crossing at Pilgrim Church - too
dangerous. I walk down to Davern Ave where at least I have the safety of a
median strip."
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Another resident said she also gave up using that crosswalk.
| "I've tried crossing Columbia Road when
the cars stop but I can't get across. Cars from Hancock Street
keep turning in front of me and don't let me cross. I remember
once I was signalling permission to the drivers to let me cross.
One of the cars was a police car and the police officer was very angry
and yelled at me."
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BTD needs to treat the Columbia / Hancock intersection as if it were a
normal intersection where cars turning right or left have to yield to
pedestrians.
Let's use Columbia / Dudley as an example. If I have the right of way
on Columbia Road (green light) and I want to turn right onto Stoughton
Street, don't I first have to yield to any pedestrians crossing?
The Solution
- Enforce the No Right Turn on Red sign
- Put up a Yield to Pedestrians sign
- Eliminate the right turn arrow
- Install a small median strip for pedestrian safety
What
will happen? When Columbia Road traffic stops, pedestrians will
be able to cross Columbia Road and cars from Hancock Street will be
able to turn right as long as they yield to pedestrians as in any other
normal intersection. If necessary, with a median strip a
pedestrian can wait
safely there for the next walk cycle.
Compare that to the complicated and dangerous light sequence now in effect. Doesn't make sense.
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UC News spoke with a representative from the
Boston Transportation Department. The conversation helped illustrate the
conflicting priorities present in the design of a safe pedestrian /
vehicular transportation system.
At the end of the conversation,
BTD announced that the Columbia / Hancock intersection is under review
and the pedestrian controls will be upgraded.
YEAY!
| BTD |
What you are asking for is to put a pedestriann signal on recall which
means it comes up every single cycle for the full 24 hours. For an
intersection like Columbia / Hancock where most of the drivers want to
turn right, the drivers might wait the first couple times but when they
realize there aren't any pedetrians crossing (ever), they will start to
not pay attention to the crosswalk.
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UC News
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What we are asking
for is to have the Columbia / Hancock intersection treated the same way
as all the other intersections on Columbia Road in Upham's Corner.
What this means is very simple. When the traffic on Columbia Road
stops, the pedestrian gets to cross. Pedestrians get used to
patterns and in Upham's Corner, they get to cross when the traffic
stops. All of the intersections need to be basically the same.
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BTD
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Why can't the pedestrian use the manual controls?
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UC News
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If they don't have
to use manual controls anywhere else, why should they suddenly have to
use them at Columbia / Hancock? Worse than that is the fact that
this crosswalk leads to one of the most heavily used areas of Upham's
Corner - the Strand Theatre.
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BTD
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I still don't see what is wrong with the pedestrian having to use manual controls to cross the street.
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UC News
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Upham's Corner is full of people. A lot of them cross from Pilgrim Church over to the other side.
The City should be making Upham's Corner as pedestrian friendly and
safe as possible. The current traffic signals favor cars (coming
from Hancock St) and force pedestrians to use a manual control.
It doesn't feel friendly. It doesn't feel right.
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BTD
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[BTD representative left to get the intersection sequence and returned to the phone with good news.]
I'm being told that there is a design for that intersection in
process. They are going to be upgrading that intersection with a
new sequence which will include a concurrent pedestrian walk
signal.
It means that the pedestrian will not have to press the button to walk.
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UC News
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That is so nice to hear and I appreciate your sharing that information.
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