GREENFIELD — The City of Greenfield is beefing up its safety precautions for pedestrians, including children walking to and from school.
The city recently installed 26 new flashing beacons in school zones in addition to five HAWK beacons to slow traffic and help pedestrians cross busy roads.
The HAWK beacons — which stands for High intensity Activated crossWalK — feature a flashing signal attached to an arm outreached over a crosswalk on the road. The signals were first developed in Tucson, Ariz. in the late 1990s and have steadily gained popularity in cities and towns throughout the country.
“A lot of the surrounding communities like Fishers, Noblesville and Greenwood have at least one or two,” said Greenfield’s city engineer, Jason Koch.
Both the HAWK and school zone beacons were purchased for a combined total of $874,000.
A federal grant through the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (IMPO) covered 90 percent of the cost while the city chipped in 10 percent through local TIF funds.
Koch said the investment will make it safer for pedestrians to cross busy roads.
The HAWK signals have been installed at five high-volume, high-speed intersections throughout the city, including the Pennsy Trail crossings at Franklin Road, Morristown Pike and State Street, at Broadway Street and New Road, and where the Living Alley meets Main Street in downtown Greenfield.
Four of the beacon structures are silver, but a glossy black version was installed in downtown Greenfield to match the historic district’s signage. A series of stop bars, or white vertical lines painted on the ground at each intersection, will soon be added to further identify the crossings.
Koch said the HAWK signals are not yet activated but will likely be turned on soon in conjunction with a public awareness campaign led by the Greenfield Police Department.
Deputy Chief Chuck McMichael said an instructional video should be posted on the city’s website and the police department’s social media pages in about a week, instructing the public on how the HAWK signals work.
“We want to educate the public from both the pedestrian’s and the motorist’s viewpoint,” he said.
“Pedestrians are going to have to understand that when they push the button they don’t instantly step out into the crosswalk. They need to make sure they are watching the pedestrian signals on the opposite side of the road to know when it’s safe to cross.”
Koch said the beacon systems are easy to use and are only activated when a pedestrian presses a button on either side of the road.
“Once activated by the pedestrian, it will turn on and start flashing yellow, then solid yellow and then red,” he explained.
The pedestrian has a set amount of time to cross the street once the light turns red.
“We set the time for how long it might take a little old lady with a walker to cross the street, which might be at a rate of two miles per hour versus what it might take for a typically healthy adult to cross at a rate of three miles per hour,” Koch said.
Near the end of the allotted time, the solid red light will start flashing red before going off altogether.
Traffic must stop when the light is red or flashing red, but can then proceed if no one is in the crosswalk.
Koch said both the HAWK signals and new school zone signals are designed to capture drivers’ attention.
The school zone signs were installed earlier this spring, replacing the previous signs with no blinkers.
The lights are currently flashing from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., based on a former city ordinance which enforced school zone speed laws throughout the day.
On April 26, the Greenfield City Council passed a motion to make school zone speed limits enforceable only when the signs are flashing, and to allow Greenfield-Central schools to customize when the signs flash starting this summer.
“By giving them the discretion to set the times, the schools can set them to flash around the start and end of the school day,” said Koch.
“Generally street signage tends to fade into the background over time,” he explained. “When these school zone signs are flashing it gets your attention, especially if they’re not flashing all day long. When they’re on from 7 to 4, people tend to get lax, so our intent was to try to laser focus when those school zones are important and when folks need to comply.”
Koch said the school system will be able to set the signs individually or as a group, such as all elementary schools or all signage surrounding a particular school, based on their specific schedules and calendars.
