Flashing lights at a crosswalk by Morrill Tower on Cannon Drive. Credit: Lauren Savitsky | Lantern Reporter
High Street’s constantly moving crosswalks have long been a concern for Ohio State students navigating traffic in the university district.
Sunny Fan, a fourth-year in accounting, said witnessing a close call at a campus-area crosswalk pushed her to advocate for safer streets during her final year at Ohio State.?
“They need to do something about it because I’m a senior and in four years none of these crosswalks have improved,” Fan said. “That’s why I’ve finally tried to do something and tell the city.”
Fan attended a Columbus City Council meeting on March 9 to express concerns and provide possible solutions to the issue she said poses danger to off-campus residents in the university district.
Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla said the Ohio Department of Public Safety has been working on the pedestrian safety issue and is making steps to renovate areas of concern.
“We looked at the unsignaled crosswalks where we could have additional signage, just letting folks know, ‘Hey, a crosswalk is coming’ or is it a place where we might want to put flashing lights to make the crosswalk more obvious to drivers that are coming along the way,” Barroso de Padilla said.?
Barroso de Padilla is the chair of public safety on the council and said they are prioritizing the concerns of the students and efforts to improve some of the noted areas have already begun.?
“There’s a resurfacing project where we resurface the pavement and when we do that, what we can also do is brighten up the crosswalk lines,” Barroso de Padilla said.?
Fan said her main reason for concern is when drivers struggle to see pedestrians crossing at night.??
“People just come out of nowhere and I would say I’m a safe driver myself, but there are so many unsafe drivers especially on High Street,” Fan said.
Barroso de Padilla said she agreed that driver visibility and pedestrian safety is the main goal.
“The other thing that we talked about was just the clearance between where cars can park and where a crosswalk is,” Barroso de Padilla said. “If a van is there or a truck, that is going to obstruct the view of both the driver seeing the person crossing.”
Fan said she suggested installing more flashing pedestrian crossing signs at the streets of most concern while speaking to the council during the meeting.
Barroso de Padilla said the council has been considering this solution, but the process to have these resources installed is lengthy and expensive.?
“There’s a design phase of the roadway projects, sometimes we pilot some things and then we start them,” Barroso de Padilla said. “That just takes a little bit of time.”
Fan said she hopes the Ohio State community gets to see safer crosswalks before they graduate, something she will push for up until her last day on campus.?
Barroso de Padilla said the council is actively working to improve the safety of all roadway users, one street at a time.?
“This area is so unique because of the high level of both vehicles and vulnerable roadway users,” Barroso de Padilla said. “Our infrastructure was built for the city we were — not the city we’re becoming.”
