Residents Adjust to New Crosswalk on South Greensboro St.
By Ben Humphries
Carrboro’s jaywalkers have been foiled again. Pedestrians attempting to cross the street “at any point other than within a marked crosswalk,” which is prohibited by North Carolina law, will have a harder time doing so now that new crosswalks have appeared at the intersection of S Greensboro St. and Roberson St.
Also added are ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps, a new section of sidewalk, and sidewalk improvements in the area, according to a Town of Carrboro news digest release. And ahead of those ground-level additions, the town installed a new street lamp overhead. The improvements coincide with a wider resurfacing project happening all across town.
“These improvements respond to residents’ concerns about access and provide a more accessible route for pedestrians traveling to and from the Drakeford Library Complex,” the release said.
Max Randall, an engineer in the Carrboro Public Works Department, said the town’s previous attempts to improve the area around the intersection hit roadblocks with property owners. At present, wheelchair users still don’t have a ramp that would allow access to Open Eye Cafe when coming from the Drakeford Building. Randall views the crosswalk and sidewalk additions as incremental progress toward a fully accessible block—and placing a new crosswalk across S Greensboro St. was an obvious move.
“There’s clearly demand for a crosswalk, and so to anyone who's familiar with the town, it is clearly a wise choice to put one in there,” he said.
The demand was expressed verbally to town staff (and to the exasperated friends of your correspondent) but was also apparent from countless acts of civil disobedience. Prior to the crosswalks’ installation, a sign on the corner asked—really, begged—pedestrians to go out of their way to use the crosswalk extending from Braxton Foushee St.
“PLEASE CROSS AT MARKED CROSSWALK,” the sign read, with an arrow pointing away from the bare street. The plea was nearly always ignored.
Bethany Lee, a town resident who lives nearby, said she was cutting across the street “all the time” before the new crosswalk was put in. “Any time I needed to cross the street, I was doing it illegally,” Lee said.
Feedback to the town government about the new crosswalk has been positive according to Randall. Outside of his professional capacity, he’s heard lots of support around town.
Lee is happy about the new crosswalk, but still sees some people cross at nearby unmarked areas.
“It was long overdue to be put there,” she said. Jokingly, she added, “Although it’d be nice if it was a little further down.”
