The city of Phoenix is installing a traffic beacon at the intersection of Third and Taylor streets to serve as an active warning to drivers when pedestrians are crossing the street.
The Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon will alert drivers if pedestrians are crossing either of the crosswalks on the north and south side of Taylor and Third streets. It should be operational by June 30, said Bruce Littleton, traffic engineering supervisor of traffic signals for city of Phoenix Street Transportation Department.
“It is not going to be a full signal,” Littleton said. “What it is though, you have the standard pedestrian crossing warning signs and beneath them will be a RRFB.”
Littleton said there will be a button for pedestrians to press that will cause the beacon to flash warning lights alerting the driver there is a person in the crosswalk. The lights will remain on for the amount of time for someone to cross and then turn off.
“This is an opportunity to give the drivers an extra advanced warning that there’s going to be a pedestrian,” Littleton said.
According to Scott Logan, traffic engineering supervisor of traffic operations for the city of Phoenix Street Transportation Department, studies have shown that drivers are more likely to yield for pedestrians when there is a RRFB present.
Urban transportation expert and downtown advocate Sean Sweat has concerns about the RRFB, one of them being that the beacon will eventually train drivers to only yield for pedestrians when the lights are flashing.
Sweat said what upsets him the most about this traffic beacon is that it says the city cares more about cars rather than pedestrians because it doesn’t stop the flow of traffic.
“To me, this screams we need to redesign streets to reprioritize pedestrians,” Sweat said.
Over his Twitter account, Sweat asked the Streets Transportation Department why they didn’t install stop signs, which would be cheaper, instead of this RRFB.
Third and Taylor Streets intersect near the Downtown campus and the Arizona Center, so it’s a busy street. According to ASU Real Estate Project Management Associate Director Patrick Panetta, ASU requested “additional safety features” and the city found the RRFB as a solution based on the requests.
“Are we putting a beacon there because there is a high number of pedestrians who happen to be students that cross there? Absolutely,” Littleton said. “We were asked in the context of, ‘Can we make it more than just the passive crosswalk?’”
Late this May, a traffic median was placed at the intersection. Currently, there is a pole in the median that will support a pedestrian crossing sign and the rapid flashing beacon once installed.
“It’s really there as a place to hold the sign. It’s dead space, it’s not active. It’s not going to a require a pedestrian to push a button there, and it’s not a pedestrian refuge. It’s an island that puts the sign in a more prominent position for drivers,” Littleton said.
The city of Phoenix Street Transportation Department began conversation of adding a RRFB to this intersection in March, around the time the crosswalk between Civic Space Park and the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA on First Avenue opened.
“We will be watching this rapid flash beacon,” Logan said. “We are confident that it will prove, like in other cities, to improve pedestrian safety at that crosswalk.”
Contact the reporter at alejandra.armstrong@asu.edu
