Woonsocket Installs Flashing Pedestrian Light System at City Hall Crosswalk for Pedestrian Safety During Early Voting Periods, and Beyond

September 26, 2022
Contact: Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt
lbaldellihunt@woonsocketri.org; (401) 767-9205

Woonsocket Installs Flashing Pedestrian Light System at City Hall Crosswalk for Pedestrian Safety During Early Voting Periods, and Beyond

WOONSOCKET, R.I.: Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt today announced that the City has installed a pedestrian activated, high-intensity light crossing system on both sides of the red-brick pedestrian crosswalk near City Hall in front of 141 and 144 Main Street. The rapid flashing, LED crosswalk beacons will immediately alert drivers that someone is preparing to cross Main Street, and will then allow drivers to proceed once the pedestrian has cleared, thereby stopping traffic for a minimal amount of time.

Mayor Baldelli-Hunt explained, “We expect City Hall to be a very busy place over the next several weeks with early voting, tax payments and other happenings, and a lot of people will be crossing Main Street. These high-intensity flashing lights will improve pedestrian safety at the red-brick crosswalk leading to and from City Hall by visually alerting drivers when someone is crossing the street, and by reminding pedestrians to make sure that drivers have stopped before they cross. We have successfully used this type of lighting at other City crosswalks, and they will encourage safer crosswalk usage at City Hall.”

The Mayor indicated that studies across the country have shown that the high-intensity crossing lights produce a superior driver yield rate than conventional, painted crosswalks, and that pedestrians who had to first stop to press the button to activate the light were more aware of traffic coming in their direction.

Steve D’Agostino, Public Safety Director, stated, “It would have been ideal to build a crosswalk centrally located in front of City Hall, and then install these high-intensity lights on that crosswalk, but to make that crosswalk ADA compliant we would have had to dig deep into the asphalt, and disrupt, a lot of electric wiring and utility conduits. The red-brick crosswalk adjacent to City Hall is already ADA compliant and putting the flashing lights there did not require underground wiring.”

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