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<br /> 61 <br /> <br />Alternative Treatments <br /> <br />In addition to installing marked crosswalks—or in some cases, instead of installing marked crosswalks— <br />there are other treatments that should be considered to provide safer and easier crossings for pedestrians. <br />Examples of these pedestrian improvements: <br /> <br />• Provide raised medians (or raised crossing islands) on multilane roads. <br /> <br />• Install traffic signals and pedestrian signals where warranted and where serious pedestrian crossing <br />problems exist. <br /> <br />• Reduce the exposure crossing distance for pedestrians by: <br />- Providing curb extensions. <br />- Providing pedestrian median refuge islands. <br />- Reducing four-lane undivided road sections to two through lanes with a left-turn bay (or a two- <br />way left-turn lane), sidewalks, and bicycle lanes. <br /> <br />• Locate bus stops on the far side of uncontrolled marked crosswalks. <br /> <br />• Install traffic-calming measures to slow vehicle speeds and/or reduce cut-through traffic. Such <br />measures may include: <br />- Raised crossings (raised crosswalks, raised intersections). <br />- Street-narrowing measures (chicanes, slow points, “skinny street” designs). <br />- Intersection designs (traffic minicircles, diagonal diverters). <br />- Other treatments are available; see Traffic Calming: State of the Practice for further details.(24) <br /> <br />Some of these traffic-calming measures are better suited to local or neighborhood streets than to <br />arterial streets. <br /> <br />• Provide adequate nighttime street lighting for pedestrians in areas with nighttime pedestrian activity <br />where illumination is inadequate. <br /> <br />• Design safer intersections and driveways for pedestrians (e.g., crossing islands, tighter turn radii), <br />which take into consideration the needs of pedestrians. <br /> <br />In developing the proposed U.S. guidelines for marked crosswalks and other pedestrian measures, <br />consideration was given not only to the research results in this study, but also to crosswalk guidelines and <br />related pedestrian safety research in Sweden, England, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, <br />Norway, and Hungary. (See references 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 33, and 37.) More details on pedestrian <br />facilities are given in the 2001 Pedestrian Facilities User’s Guide: Providing Safety and Mobility,(22) <br />Design and Safety of Pedestrian Facilities,(35) The Traffic Safety Toolbox,(36) and Making Streets That <br />Work—Neighborhood Planning Tool,(38) among others.