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Studying Safety At YSU
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Pedestrians make their way down Wick Avenue.
$1.9M grant aims to lessen hazards for pedestrians, traffic
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
Youngstown State University and the city of Youngstown are about to launch a study designed to keep students and others safe as they cross main streets around campus.
The pedestrian-safety enhancement study and follow-up improvements will cost $1.9 million, paid for with a federal grant. The focus will be on pedestrian and traffic improvements on three key traffic arteries: Wick, Fifth and Rayen avenues.
At one time, those streets marked the edges of campus, but, today, they are well within campus boundaries as a result of YSU expansion, said Hunter Morrison, YSU’s director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies.
The city is administering the grant and Wick, Rayen and Fifth are all municipal streets.
The first phase of the study will examine pedestrian and vehicular traffic, crosswalks, signals, lighting and landscaping and accidents.
ms consultants of Youngstown and Behnke Associates of Cleveland have been recommended as a team to conduct the study, and ODOT is reviewing that proposal now.
The plan calls for initial recommendations to be made to the university and city by mid-2010 and a final report completed by the end of the year.
The study will develop specific recommendations that can be implemented in phases.
There are a variety of ways to deal with traffic calming, such as signal timing, relocated crosswalks, pedestrian islands, landscaping and more, Morrison said.
He said that $500,000 of the grant will be used to finance the study with the remainder to implement improvements.
“It’s an important issue. It really is, especially across Fifth Avenue,” said Stephanie Tingley, professor of English and American studies, moments after she crossed Fifth from a YSU parking lot.
Pedestrians don’t have a lot of crossing time and some people jaywalk, she said, adding that the problem is really bad when YSU plays a home football game. Stambaugh Stadium sits along Fifth Avenue.
Ideally, a pedestrian bridge over the roadway might be best, Tingley said.
“That would be a real improvement,” she suggested.
Morrison said YSU’s plans to build athletic fields on the west side of Fifth Avenue bring added importance to pedestrian safety on that street. The same goes for the construction of a new Williamson College of Business Administration building, and YSU taking over operation of the Steel Museum on the south side of Rayen Avenue, he said.
Kaitlin Billock of Poland, a freshman music education major, said she crosses Wick Avenue at least three times a day.
Traffic doesn’t yield, she said, suggesting that longer crosswalk time and perhaps cameras to nab motorists who run through the red light at Wick and Spring Street might be helpful.
“I almost got hit a couple of times,” she said.
“You have to wait until it’s completely clear, and that’s not very often,” said Cristan Prado of Poland, a freshman physical therapy major.
Mikayla Torgerson and Crystal Harvey, two freshmen from Struthers, said they frequently cross Fifth Avenue to visit a fast food restaurant on the west side.
“It’s a little dangerous,” said Torgerson, an exercise science major. “Usually, you have to wait for all the cars to stop. Then you have to sprint.”
“It’s pretty scary,” added Harvey, a graphic design major. Some motorists appear to intentionally swerve toward them, apparently thinking it’s funny, she said.
Both Torgerson and Harvey said they like the idea of creating pedestrian islands on Fifth Avenue to help people get across.
gwin@vindy.com