OPINION: Reducing speeds won’t reduce Anchorage pedestrian deaths

The Anchorage Assembly and local politicians should move quickly to demand action on road safety after 12th pedestrian killed this year, as outlined in a recent article in this publication; however, their proposed plan to reduce road speeds and increase street lighting does not adequately address the root issue of pedestrian deaths and certainly will not to lead to the creating a “Vision Zero,” a commitment by cities to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries while increasing safe, equitable mobility for all.

Extensive research shows that drivers’ behavior is affected by cues in the built environment. In “Dangerous By Design,” published by Smart Growth America, an organization focused on community development, the report highlights that “roadway design has a strong impact on how people drive and is often more influential on driver behavior than the posted speed limit … (since) road’s design is ever-present, continually providing guidance and visual cues.” Reducing speeds on Northern Lights Boulevard or C Street, for instance, won’t change the fact that these are four-lane roadways that cue drivers that they are on a highway where one can drive fast. The better design for the multitude of four-lane roads in the Anchorage Bowl would be converting the four lanes to two car lanes, a dedicated bus lane and a barrier-protected bike/pedestrian walkway like the one tested on A Street this summer. Our city is not dense enough that it requires any four-lane roads to handle the amount of traffic traversing the area daily.

Walking in Anchorage is not a pleasant experience. Some years ago during an icy February, I attempted to walk on 36th Avenue from the Seward Highway to Denali Street with my son in a sturdy running stroller. The experience was not only terrifying, it was almost impossible. The sidewalks were not cleared and I had to walk with the stroller on the side of the road for most of the journey while drivers honked and, in one case, threatened me. I do not have mobility issues, but walking with a stroller for many years has provided me with a small glimpse into understanding how those with mobility issues — our elders, and those in wheelchairs — may experience navigating challenges such as raised curbs, icy conditions and short pedestrian crosswalk lights.

There are multiple “quick build,” temporary low-cost interventions into the roadway, that the municipality can begin testing out immediately. As we are a winter city, the municipality should prioritize plowing walkways and bike lanes on our urban streets (not just on the trail system). In many cities throughout the circumpolar north region, local governments have already made this shift to clear pedestrian and bike pathways before roadways, as they have found that this practice greatly increases the likelihood that individuals will choose to not use a car during the winter months and those without the option to drive can travel safely in winter conditions. Additionally, although this may be counterintuitive, increasing the number of pedestrians on sidewalks and pathways reduces incidences of pedestrians being hit by cars because the increased amount of pedestrians cue drivers that they should be moving slower through a space – that the space is shared and not just for cars.

I would also recommend that simply increasing the pedestrian crosswalk light times will also reduce the likelihood of pedestrian injuries and fatalities. For instance, to cross over the Seward Highway on 36th Avenue, one could not realistically walk — they would need to run to make it to the other side before the light changed. In the future, the municipality should consider building additional pedestrian bridges in locations such as that particular crossing where it’s truly not possible to cross over safely given the amount of traffic and the speed of traffic at that intersection. In the long term, we need more crosswalks and the crosswalks should have flashing signals that cue drivers to come to a complete stop. There are numerous examples from cities worldwide of innovative ways to trigger cars to slow down at crosswalks: murals on the pavement, bright flags pedestrians can grab to use while crossing, even the “zebras,” at-risk youth employed by the city government, who work to calm traffic and educate citizens in road safety in La Paz, Bolivia.

I have been tracking the data on pedestrian deaths in Anchorage for the past 15 years, and the majority of fatalities have occurred because someone was trying to run across the road not at the crosswalk, but in the middle of a long stretch of road where a driver would not anticipate seeing a pedestrian crossing. We need to add crosswalks midway on Benson Boulevard, Northern Lights Boulevard, and A and C streets — not just at the intersection with major cross streets. The crosswalks on these roads are almost a mile apart from one another — so it’s no wonder that someone may run across to catch a bus or to make sure they make it to work or school on time.

In the “Dangerous by Design” report, the authors note that “Black and Native Americans, older adults, and people walking in low-income communities die at higher rates and face higher levels of risk compared to all Americans.’ I would venture to guess that most people walking in Anchorage are not doing so for leisure, they are walking out of necessity because car ownership is not attainable for them. I urge our community leaders and technocrats, such as our municipal transportation planners, to start framing pedestrian deaths as an equity issue, because only by framing this issue as “equitable mobility” will we begin to create the necessary solutions to become a Vision Zero community.

Bree Kessler co-founded PARTICIPATE, a social impact firm dedicated to increasing community participatory decision-making processes. Her academic research is on how the built environment interacts with human behavior, emphasizing placemaking in the circumpolar north and winter cities.

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