CENTERVILLE—City officials are wrestling with the thorny issue of how to make Centerville a walkable community, ensuring pedestrians are safe while allowing motor vehicles to easily get around town. One concern they have is at striped pedestrian crossings.

Last summer the city installed a pedestrian crosswalk with flashing crosswalk signs on the north side of the intersection at 400 West and Chase Lane. Since then, the city has received a number of emails and phone calls complaining about the intersection.

On May 3 the city council met with City Engineer Kevin Campbell, Streets Supervisor Marc Marchant and Cody Pederson with ESI Engineering in a work session to try to hash out some concerns and for the team to explain why they placed the crosswalk there. 

“The intent in that type of intersection is to try to provide a clear view of the drivers, a clear designated route for pedestrians in the hopes that it’s much safer for everybody who is interacting there,” Campbell said.

However, the design of the crosswalk can be difficult for pedestrians to navigate, Councilmember Gina Hirst said. “The frustration for the residents that are on the southwest is because when their kids go to youth activities [at a nearby church] they are having to cross three legs instead of one leg of a cross walk if they’re going to follow a crosswalk.”

Marchant told the city council that generally UDOT’s standards are followed when installing pedestrian crossings. UDOT’s priority is safe walking routes for children going to and from school, he said. On 400 West the preferred school crossing for Stewart Elementary students is at 1200 North, but some students choose to cross east to west at Chase Lane, Campbell said. This has led to some problems there.

After a detailed discussion, it was clear there is no easy solution to the problems brought up in the complaints. The discourse on 400 West led to a broader discussion about pedestrian crossings throughout the community. Pederson commented that UDOT views every intersection as a pedestrian crossing, marked or unmarked. One of the solutions the council considered was installing midblock crosswalks at key places in the community, something that had been proposed by a previous city council at locations such as Jenny’s Lane, Lind Lane and other areas.

City Manager Brant Hanson said drivers tended to stop noticing crosswalks if they were marked at every intersection. He emphasized that meaningful placement was important.

UDOT data “says it [midblock crossings] actually becomes less safe; it gives a false sense of security and motorists are not expecting midblock crossings at unsignalized intersections or at four-way stops,” Campbell said.

“My concern about midblock crossings is even adults don’t wait until cars stop,” Mayor Clark Wilkinson said. “Unless our parents are teaching their kids … people see those painted lines there and they just go into the intersection, they don’t wait to make sure the cars have stopped. So, it’s a real education process.”

Councilmember Robin Mecham said she has had several close calls over the years while driving near Don’s Meats.

“I came close to killing somebody there more than once because … they come down the sidewalk and it’s just like it’s a continuous sidewalk across the road, and they step right out in front of traffic,” she said. “I really came close one day to hitting somebody; I was shaking.”

Hirst asked if other options were available to increase pedestrian safety.

“I want my kids to be able to walk to get to where they need to go,” she said. “Frankly, I end up driving them sometimes for safety reasons so that they’re not navigating some of these areas. We have a lot of people that are pretty active.”

Ultimately, with no easy solutions, the discussion was tabled for another day. l