The HAWK will increase safety for pedestrians at crosswalk at Ash and US 60
After conducting several traffic studies for safety improvement at the US 60/Ash Street crosswalk adjacent to Globe High School, the Arizona Department of Transportation has received approval for funding from the Federal Highway Administration for the design of a High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk signal (HAWK - also known as a Pedestrian Highway Beacon) that will increase safety for pedestrians that cross this highly traveled highway.
ADOT, the Globe Unified School District, and the City of Globe have been working together to identify and support a long term solution for pedestrian safety at this crosswalk. “Since February, we’ve been working on solutions to make the crosswalk safer for the Globe community.” said ADOT’s Globe District Engineer Rod Lane. In an effort to address immediate safety concerns while the team continued working through the federal process to receive funding on the crosswalk upgrade, ADOT updated and installed new and more prominent signing and striping at the intersection in April.
Before the signal can be constructed, ADOT needs to go through the design process required by the federal funding. The process includes developing a set of plans, acquiring additional right-of-way, and receiving all required clearances. “Once we go through the design process, we’ll again need to get federal approval before we can enter the bidding and construction phase of the project.” said Lane.
The HAWK is a pedestrian traffic signal that is activated when a button is pushed by a pedestrian and that gradually stops traffic with yellow flashing lights followed by one solid red light. Once traffic has completely stopped in both directions, the pedestrian is signaled to walk safely across the street. Sensors allow the signal to turn green for waiting traffic when the pedestrian has completely crossed the road onto the sidewalk at the other end.
“We are pleased with FHWA’s commitment to the project; it helps assure the community of ADOT’s resolve to work with them to solve this issue” said Lane. “Although it won’t happen overnight, we will continue to work with the school district and the city to move this project through the process as quickly as possible.”
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