[Vision2020] Crosswalk near Wendys

[Mark Solomon]

I noticed a photo on the front page of the Tribune yesterday of 
someone (the state DOT?) installing a pedestrian overpass over the 
Highway 12 bypass between the levee and downtown Lewiston. Somebody 
coughed up big $$ for that project.

Mark

At 6:08 AM -0700 6/29/06, g. crabtree wrote:
>Another suggestion might be to lose the crosswalk altogether, 
>enforce jay walking regulations along this stretch of state highway 
>(not city street) and encourage the little darlings to us the well 
>lit, well designated crosswalks at Line st. and at Perimeter. We are 
>not talking about any major hardship in that the furthest anyone 
>might have to alter there route is by far less than a quarter mile.
>I realize that one of the only lessons of geometry that all students 
>learn universally is the one about a straight line being the 
>shortest distance between two points but to continue to encourage 
>this along this length of road is likely to result in a bad outcome. 
>Spending scare resources and impeding the flow of traffic seems a 
>poor idea when such a simple and cost effective solution is at hand.
>
>gc
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Rumelhart" <godshatter at yahoo.com>
>To: "Vision2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 8:46 PM
>Subject: [Vision2020] Crosswalk near Wendys
>
>>My apologies if this has been discussed here before, but I wanted 
>>to state my opinions on this.
>>
>>I worry that someday some person (probably a college student) is 
>>going to be seriously injured or killed at this crosswalk.  It has 
>>all the makings of a death trap.  It's on one of the few four-lane 
>>streets (five, really) around with a higher-than-average-in-Moscow 
>>speed limit.  I've seen so many drivers just cruise on through 
>>without even thinking about it being a crosswalk, and I've also 
>>seen people just pop up from the slight incline that leads to it's 
>>entrance on the UI side and just start hoofing it across the road. 
>>I'm aware of the dangers here, and watch it closely, and I've still 
>>been surprised to find someone in the crosswalk there.  They either 
>>popped up like we're playing whack-a-mole from the UI side or they 
>>were hidden by the other cars that were just blithely driving 
>>through the crosswalk ahead of them or behind them.  The signs are 
>>nice, but they are not enough.
>>
>>I appreciate the need for a crosswalk there, since you either have 
>>to jaywalk or walk a block in either direction or more to get to a 
>>valid crosswalk.  As it stands, though, I think we'd be safer 
>>letting them jaywalk - at least they would be cautious of the 
>>traffic.  With a legal crosswalk there, the old UI-taught behavior 
>>of "just walk out there, they'll stop" appears to kick in.
>>
>>Some minor suggestions that might help would include a yellow light 
>>suspended over the crosswalk, or maybe spotlights on both sides so 
>>we can see better at night, or possibly a concrete "staging 
>>platform" that is easily visible amongst the grass so we have a 
>>better idea where to look ahead of time.  A better idea would 
>>probably be to just put a light there, one that turns red only if a 
>>pedestrian pushes the button.
>>
>>Anyone have any other ideas?  Are there plans for something to 
>>happen there that just haven't been completed yet?
>>
>>Paul
>>
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