Miller at the “ridiculous” spot.
At one Westville intersection, a lack of sidewalks pushes pedestrians into the street, and bus passengers are forced to step into traffic to board the bus. City Engineer Dick Miller has a plan to change all that — and get rid of a “ridiculous” “crosswalk to nowhere.”
The intersection is the junction of Lawncrest Road with Ramsdell and Fountain streets. It’s a complicated K‑shaped crossroads, made even more challenging by a bus stop on an island in the middle of it. Sidewalks are missing on the south side, and bus passengers have to cross in front of arriving buses and step onto a tiny, crumbling traffic island to get on board.
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The intersection (pictured above) is notoriously unfriendly for pedestrians, who have been complaining about it for years. With approval from the Board of Aldermen, the city will spend nearly $260,000 on an $450,000 overhaul that will make the spot safe for pedestrians and bus passengers. The feds will pay the balance. The plan was already approved by the City Plan Commission and the aldermanic City Services and Environmental Policy Committee. If it finds approval from the full board Monday night, the project will be complete by next spring, Miller said.
Where the sidewalk ends.
On Friday morning, Miller visited the troublesome intersection to demonstrate just how dysfunctional it is for pedestrians. He started at the south side of Fountain, across from Ramsdell, where the sidewalk ends abruptly. There is a crosswalk, but pedestrians have to step into the street to get to it, Miller pointed out.
He then cautiously walked against traffic on the shoulder of Fountain, to reach what he called “the most ridiculous thing that anybody ever did.” It’s a “crosswalk to nowhere.” It starts on the south side of Fountain, where there is a break in the metal barrier and a button for pedestrians to trigger a walk signal. But with no sidewalk, there’s no way for pedestrians to get to the button from that side of Fountain, and nowhere for them to go if they were to cross there from the other side.
South side of the “crosswalk to nowhere.”
As for the other side, “look what it goes across to,” Miller said, pointing. The crosswalk heads straight for a “Do Not Enter” sign on a crumbling triangular traffic island (pictured in top photo).
The island is one of three that occupy the intersection. Farthest east is the largest of the archipelago, the home to a bus stop shelter. In the middle is a tiny, decrepit chunk of concrete — a boarding zone for passengers.
As Miller spoke, a city bus pulled up, allowing him to point out how the intersection is failing bus passengers as well as pedestrians. When the bus arrives, it pulls into a channel between two islands, meant for buses only. Passengers have to walk in front of it to reach the middle island and board the bus, while cars pass by on two different streets.
Meanwhile, the back of the bus hangs out into the road, obstructing traffic coming from Ramsdell.
“Here is a gentleman who just got off the bus. He’s handicapped,” Miller said, pointing to a man with a cane shuffling away from the bus. He had to step off the bus — into traffic — then negotiate two crosswalks before reaching the sidewalk at Lawncrest Road.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist” to see that the intersection needs improvements, Miller said.
As the bus pulled away eastbound on Fountain, Miller pointed out how it had to merge in with cars turning the same direction. One SUV, with a driver who was apparently confused by the intersection, slipped into the bus lane and then was forced to merge as well.
In addition to the bus and pedestrian problems, the intersection is made even more challenging by several other factors, Miller pointed out. For one, it’s a big space where three roads have to come together. Electrical and telephone wires have to span longer distances than at other intersections. Also, there’s a brook that runs intermittently beneath the junction. And, there’s a hill where Ramsdell meets Lawncrest. That creates sight-line problems preventing Lawncrest from simply T‑ing into Ramsdell.
The solution.
Still standing on the south side of Fountain, Miller unveiled the solution to all these problems: a plan for the re-configuration of the intersection.
Most noticeably, it calls for two big islands in the middle of the intersection, instead of three smaller ones. The bus shelter will be moved to a new, 60-foot long island on the proper side for passengers to board without crossing in front of the bus. A bike rack will be installed next to the shelter.
The bus lane will be longer and more perpendicular to Fountain Street. And it will have its own light. Drivers will be able to reach out their window, press a button, and trigger their own traffic light, stopping other traffic.
The “crosswalk to nowhere” will be removed and another crosswalk will be installed, further west on Fountain, before the intersection. All crosswalks will be signalized and equipped with wheelchair-friendly ramps.
A sidewalk will be installed on the south side of Fountain. A new 6‑foot chain link fence will run alongside the sidewalk, to prevent pedestrians from tumbling down the steep hill to the intermittent brook.
Parking spaces will be added to the east side of Ramsdell, where it meets Fountain. That’s likely to slow traffic turning north off of Fountain.
The project will cost a total of about $450,000. With aldermanic approval, some $260,000 of that will come from the city, the rest from the federal government. Work is likely to begin this fall, Miller said.
For Miller, it can’t happen to soon. The intersection as it is, with such dangers for pedestrians, “makes you gulp,” he said. “You say to yourself, ‘something’s going to happen here.’”
Miller and Alderman Rodriguez presented the plan to an aldermanic committee in April.
Sergio Rodriguez, the local alderman, said he welcomes the changes. “We’ve been waiting for a couple years for this now.”
He said the lack of a sidewalk on Fountain is especially dangerous given that children have to pass through the area everyday to get to a school bus stop. “Kids catching the school bus have to walk in the street.”
Rodriguez said he’s also happy to see that a fence will go up alongside the “ravine” by Fountain Street.
“I’m thrilled that we finally have this opportunity,” he said.
Brock boards the bus.
Yashieka Brock, who was waiting to take the 12:08 p.m. Q‑line bus into town on Friday, also gave the re-do a thumbs-up. The existing configuration is clearly not working, she said. “I think it’s crazy.”
When passengers get on the bus, “a car could come anytime and hit us,” she said.
When the bus pulled up, driver Al Sanchez said he liked the idea that he could push a button and have his own green light. “Oh, that would be good.”
Sanchez said he stops at the intersection “every day, all day long.” It’s always tricky pulling out, he said, because the cars try to speed around him before merging on Fountain, so that they don’t get stuck behind his bus. “They come close to me.”
Sure enough, as Sanchez pulled out, the driver of an old Ford pick-up gassed it, forcing Sanchez to brake and let him by before he headed down Fountain towards town.