OPINION: Reducing speeds will not reduce Anchorage pedestrian deaths

The Anchorage Legislature and local politicians must act quickly. Road safety action demanded after 12th pedestrian killed this yearAs noted in a recent article in this publication; However, their proposed plan to reduce road speeds and increase street lighting does not adequately address the fundamental problem of pedestrian deaths and will certainly not lead to the creation of “Vision Zero,” the commitment of cities to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. Increasing safe and equitable mobility for all.

Extensive research shows that drivers’ behavior is influenced by cues in the built environment. The “Dangerous by Design” report, published by Smart Growth America, an organization focused on community development, emphasizes that “road design has a strong impact on how people drive and is often more influential on driver behavior than the posted speed limit… (Because) the design of the road.” “It is always available and constantly provides guidance and visual cues.” Reducing speeds on Northern Lights Boulevard or C Street, for example, will not change the fact that these are four-lane roads that signal to drivers that they are on a highway where they can drive fast. A better design for the many four-lane roads in the Anchorage Bowl would be to convert the four lanes into two car lanes, a dedicated bus lane and a barrier-protected bike/pedestrian path, similar to the one tested on A Street this summer. Our city is not dense enough to need four-lane roads to handle the amount of traffic that passes through the area on a daily basis.

Walking in Anchorage is not a pleasant experience. On an icy February a few years ago, I attempted to walk 36th Street from the Seward Expressway to Denali Avenue with my son in a sturdy jogging stroller. The experience was not only frightening, but almost impossible. The pavements were not cleared and I had to walk on the side of the road with the baby stroller for most of the journey as drivers honked their horns and in some cases threatened me. I don’t have mobility issues, but many years of walking with a stroller has taught me that those with mobility issues (our seniors and wheelchair users) have problems with raised sidewalks, icy conditions, and short crosswalk lights.

There are a number of “rapid build”, temporary, low-cost interventions on roadways that the City can begin testing immediately. Since we are a winter city, the municipality needs to prioritize walking paths and bicycle paths on our urban streets (not just the path system). In many cities in the Arctic region, local governments have already made this change to clear pedestrian and bicycle paths before highways; because this application greatly increases the possibility of individuals choosing not to drive during winter months, and those who do not have the opportunity to drive can travel safely in winter conditions. Additionally, although counterintuitive, increasing the number of pedestrians on sidewalks and paths reduces the incidence of pedestrians being hit by cars because increased pedestrian numbers signal to drivers that they should move slower in an area, meaning that the space is shared and not shared. only for cars.

I would also recommend that increasing pedestrian crossing light durations will reduce the likelihood of pedestrian injury and death. For example, you cannot realistically walk to cross the Seward Expressway at 36th Street; They would have to run to get to the other side before the light changed. In the future, the municipality should consider building additional pedestrian bridges at locations such as a particular crossing where it is not actually possible to cross the street safely given the amount of traffic and traffic speed at that intersection. In the long term, we need more crosswalks, and crosswalks should have flashing signals to signal drivers to come to a complete stop. There are numerous examples from cities around the world of innovative ways to trigger cars to slow down at crosswalks: murals on the sidewalk, bright flags that pedestrians can use when crossing the street, even “zebras” — at-risk youths employed by the city government — in La Paz, Bolivia They work to calm traffic and educate citizens about road safety.

I’ve been tracking data on pedestrian fatalities in Anchorage for the last 15 years, and the majority of deaths occurred because someone was trying to cross the street in the middle of a long stretch of road rather than in a crosswalk. The driver did not expect to see a pedestrian crossing. We need to add crosswalks in the middle of Benson Boulevard, Northern Lights Boulevard, and A and C streets; not just at the intersections of main streets. Crosswalks on these roads are spaced nearly a mile apart; So it’s no surprise that someone might cross the street to catch the bus or to make sure they get to work or school on time.

In the “Dangerous by Design” report, the authors note: ‘Black and Native Americans, older adults, and people walking in low-income communities die at higher rates and face higher levels of risk than all Americans.’ I would venture to guess that most people walking in Anchorage are not doing so for fun, but out of necessity because owning a car is not possible for them. I urge our community leaders and technocrats, like our municipal transportation planners, to begin framing pedestrian deaths as an equity issue, because only by framing this issue as “equitable mobility” will we begin to create the solutions necessary to become a Vision Zero community. .

Bree Kessler He co-founded PARTICIPATE, a social impact firm dedicated to increasing community participatory decision-making. His academic research is on how the built environment interacts with human behavior, emphasizing placemaking in circumpolar northern and winter cities.

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