If you look at Google Street View for the Lake St. crossing of the Minuteman Bikeway in Arlington, MA, including the current and previous years’ images, it’s rare to find one that doesn’t show someone walking, biking, or jogging crossing, about to cross, or at least somewhere near the crosswalk.
That’s not surprising, as the popular trail records over 2,500 daily trips on average, and between 80,000 and 90,000 trips each month during the summer. Those are last year’s numbers from the MassTrails Bicycle/Pedestrian Counts Pilot Program counter at Swan Place in downtown Arlington, less than a mile north of the Lake St. crossing. A peak hour count of the Lake St. crossing revealed 253 bike-ped crossings in the AM peak hour and 316 in the PM peak hour. (PDF source here, though I can’t find what month this count took place)
The Town of Arlington has started construction on an upgrade to this crossing to enhance the safety for all of these crossing trail users. That’s especially important given the crossing’s crash history: in just two calendar years (2014-15), there were 14 crashes, including two involving pedestrians. Five of these were injury crashes (source: see above link to PDF presentation).
The design of the project, by consultant Green International Affiliates and overseen by the Lake Street/Bikeway Intersection Design Review Committee, has some notable features that will not only enhance safety but also (relatedly) help to manage the heavy trail user traffic. (See the excerpt from the pavement marking and signing plan sheet of the 75% design plans [PDF] below.)
The centerpiece is a new pedestrian signal to replace the current uncontrolled crossing, which simply had a ladder-style crosswalk, a warning sign and plaque, and stop signs and stop bars for the trail approaches. This will allow for a continuous flow of trail traffic when the trail has the green signal. Drivers will have to stop for the red, and trail users will be able to activate their green phase with a pushbutton. Pretty standard treatment there.
Less common is the design of two bikeway lanes flanked by crosswalks on each side. This serves to separate not only modes but also direction of travel. The trail flares out at the approaches encouraging people on foot to walk to the outside, which is typical for trail rules, to reach the new crosswalks. There are splitter islands at the approaches, which will help deter motor vehicle encroachment and also help to visually traffic calm people on bikes as they approach. Another cool feature is the presence of speed feedback signs — for both the Lake St. (primarily motor vehicle) and Minuteman Bikeway approaches — another mechanism to calm all traffic at the intersection. Low speeds are the best friend of traffic safety.
The adjacent Brooks Ave. signalized intersection will also get an upgrade as part of the project, and the two signals will be coordinated.
Jeff Brubaker 