Harrison Street Safety Improvement Project
Location
Harrison and 23rd Streets, Oakland
City or County Responsible for Project
Oakland
Category
Complete Streets Projects
Author
Nicole Ferrara
OakDOT
250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612
510-238-4720
Project Description
After the tragic death of a senior walking across the street at the intersection of Harrison and 23rd, the City of Oakland’s new Department of Transportation (OakDOT) jumped into immediate action to prevent other community members from suffering a similar crash. Within 10 weeks, the City installed its first set of comprehensive swift and effective safety improvements to build a safe street for people walking, biking, taking transit, and in vehicles. The project aimed to address the main crash pattern that resulted in the fatal crash: a difficult left turn from a minor street onto a six-lane arterial right next to the City’s largest senior center and most treasured park, Lake Merritt. But the project didn’t stop there. As OakDOT staff got to work on the details, they encountered accessibility and safety issues that they were also able to address through the project, including speeding (60% of drivers were traveling above the speed limit), accessibility (although the intersection abuts a senior center, it lacked curb ramps due to a tree located in the path of travel), and a safe place for people biking (the street is a bike route, but lacked a bicycle lane and bikes were forced to share a lane among six lanes of high-speed traffic). Recognizing that the crash site is just blocks from Downtown, the project wouldn’t be a success if it didn’t provide universal accessibility, safe travel for all modes, and slower speeds to ensure that walking and biking is safe and comfortable. Project outcomes include: – Shortening the distance required to cross the street with painted curb extensions – Slowing speeding vehicles by reducing the number of vehicle travel lanes and adding a bicycle lane – Creating a safe, comfortable place for people in the median while crossing – Making it easier for drivers to see and stop for pedestrians with large, visible crosswalks and yield markings – Creating an accessible project by widening the crosswalk in order to add a curb ramp while still retaining a large street tree that was in the path of travel with a standard crosswalk – Eliminating the left turn from 23rd to Harrison that was a factor in the fatal crash – Creating a more delightful streetscape with the purple painted curb extensions and median enlargement OakDOT staff wanted to ensure that they were monitoring their impact, so evaluation was built into the project from the start. Results from pre- and post-evaluations were astounding: only 10% of drivers yielded to pedestrians in the crosswalk prior to implementation, and after implementation 96% of drivers yielded. In addition, the City has received positive feedback from elected officials, family members of the victim, and the broader community. As a new agency, OakDOT gained a lot of momentum from this project, and is continuing to design innovative projects that meet the community’s needs quickly and effectively, our most vulnerable and historically disinvested communities.
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