POUGHKEEPSIE – A state grant program resulted in the City of Poughkeepsie receiving $2.4 million to improve pedestrian safety in the city. The State Department of Transportation Pedestrian Safety Action Plan resulted in a crosswalk control device being planted in the middle of the Market Street sidewalk, causing pedestrians to accidentally walk into it.
The control device is connected to two flashing beacons and a crosswalk sign for pedestrians seeking to cross Market Street between Canon and Main Streets. The actual crosswalk signs are mounted on poles at the curbs of Market Street with the activation button mounted on a four-foot-tall pole in the middle of the sidewalk on the east side of Market Street.
While at the location on Thursday morning, a Mid-Hudson News reporter watched three pedestrians walk into the gray pole. When asked about it, one of the pedestrians said, “Who would put a pole in the middle of the sidewalk without painting it with a bright yellow or wrapping it in reflective tape?”
A city official told Mid-Hudson News that it was placed by the city’s contractor based on plans drawn by the outside engineering firm. The engineering firm says the placement is due to the location of underground utilities.
According to the state DOT, the Pedestrian Safety Plan identified “focus communities” with high rates of pedestrian accidents. The state says that “Between 2009 and 2013, nearly 50 percent of all pedestrian crashes occurred in 20 areas identified as Focus Communities. The focus communities are eligible for funding for safety improvement projects through a competitive grant solicitation.”
In the Hudson Valley, he municipalities of New Rochelle, Poughkeepsie, Ramapo, White Plains, and Yonkers are identified as focus communities.
Between 2009 and 2013 those communities had the following number of pedestrian accidents:
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