Small Intersection Improvements Throughout the City

Three recent news items highlight incremental changes that will improve safety and comfort at several intersections around town.

Crosswalk Headstart

Back in February you might recall Councilor Stapleton made a motion which included a request for "an analysis of pedestrian lead times at intersections."

Moving with an unusual alacrity, the City is not publishing any study first, but is moving directly to implement the concept, giving people in the crosswalk a head start on drivers in cars. The first phase in the south half of downtown proper will start on July 8th, and the north half in September.

This is great to see! More please!

Early start for people in crosswalks - via FB

The US Department of Transportation features a picture from Salem, at Summer and Center, on their webpage on leading intervals. Note that the walk sign is lit, and the traffic light is red. There's also a sign with "left turn yield to peds on green." The City should consider publishing a list of intersections already employing a leading interval, which at least this one near the Capitol does. There's almost certainly more of them than we know about.

Featured image with the Feds

There was another part to Councilor Stapleton's motion, an analysis of "the feasibility of reducing speed limits to 20 MPH." 

Maybe we'll get to see that also, not merely a "Twenty is Plenty" program on residential, local streets, but speed reductions on busier, bigger streets, including 20mph for downtown.

For the moment, this downtown crosswalk safety project is terrific.

Intersection Paintings

Painting roundabouts in Grant - via FB

The Grant Neighborhood is painting two more intersections. These will be nice to see. Because of the heat they will postpone a block party that had been scheduled with the painting.

At Salem Reporter they write about the reception of the first painting and expectations for the second and third.

[Vice-chair Susan] Napack said the cherry blossom mural has been doing its intended job of slowing down traffic, but has also become a beloved feature. Walkers will detour their routes to look at it, and neighborhood kids have invented a new game, “mural ball,” reminiscent of four square, using it.

“It kind of sparks joy. You can be thinking about all sorts of other things: what you have to do next, what’s going on with your day. And then you see it, and it just kind of brightens everything up. And that’s what we’re hoping to do with the circles, too,” she said.

Napack said since these will cover existing traffic circles, the additions are unlikely to slow traffic much more than they already do. But she does think the new colors will make passersby happy.

Some have argued that the paintings will materially reduce traffic deaths in Salem, but this is an overstatement. Drivers are killing people on bigger, busier, and faster stroads, and not on neighborhood streets.

Napack seems to have exactly the right perspective, focusing on making travel and play more pleasant, with a side of traffic calming, and not claiming some great improvement in safety as any primary benefit.

Photo Speed Enforcement

From Salem PD:

The photo enforcement program in Salem is expanding to include two high-volume intersections starting Monday, July 1....

Currently, the automated system exists at the following Salem intersections:

1. Mission at 25th STS SE
2. Commercial at Marion STS NE
3. Silverton at Fisher RDS NE
4. Center ST at Hawthorne AV NE
5. Commercial ST at Madrona AV SE
6. Commercial ST at Kuebler BV SE

Four of the six sites [the last four] already capture red light and speeding violations. The technology to detect speed violations was implemented over time, starting at the Silverton RD site in 2019. Three more locations were added to the system in 2020.

Next week, vehicle speed detection will be enabled at the first two listed intersections....

Each location has four cameras connected to the traffic signal which automatically detects whether the vehicle stops for the red light or exceeds the posted speed limit. A recording of any violation detected by the system is verified by a police department staff member before a citation is sent to the vehicle’s registered owner, notifying them of the incident.

For the first month, between July 1 and 31, the system will issue only warnings to those drivers who violate the speed rule through those intersections. A provision in the Oregon statute concerning photo enforcement states citations will be issued for drivers whose speed is 11 mph over the speed limit while traveling through an intersection on a green light.

We need more than six of them!