Last week, the city unveiled its first new "continental crosswalk" (aka zebra crosswalk, with two-foot wide stripes--perhaps you have seen one on Abbey Road?) at Fifth and Spring Downtown--they'll paint 52 more over the next three months at intersections "that have a high number of pedestrian and vehicle collisions," according to a press release (they'll be funded by the Measure R transportation sales tax). That's only 1 percent of intersections in Los Angeles, but the selected set "account for 5 percent of the vehicle-pedestrian collisions"; they're also strategically located near transit stations, schools, and bike path crossings. Going forward, "The crosswalks will be applied to the design of all new transit and development projects and will be gradually used across all City crosswalks, subject to the availability of funds." The crosswalks come with a new "Be Aware" ad campaign to explain to drivers that pedestrians are people who use their own legs to propel them along some of the very same roads that cars use. The whole thing is the very first initiative from the city's new pedestrian coordinators--this whole walking in LA thing is getting pretty real.
· LA Staffing Up Pedestrian Master Planning Efforts [Curbed LA]
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