AGENDA #8

MEMORANDUM

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

SUBJECT:       Follow-Up Report Regarding Orange Flag Crosswalks Program

DATE:             December 6, 2004

REISSUED:   January 10, 2005

This is a follow-up report on the Orange Flag Crosswalks Program being used in Salt Lake City, Utah.

If the Council wishes to implement such a program in Chapel Hill, adoption of the attached resolution would direct the Manager to install orange flags and signs at two crosswalk locations for a twelve month period as a pilot program.

We do not recommend implementing an Orange Flag Crosswalks Program.

BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION

At its March 24, 2003 meeting, the Town Council referred a staff report regarding Orange Flag Crosswalks and Adopt-A-Crosswalk programs to the Transportation Board and Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board for further discussion.  A copy of the March 24, 2003 report is presented in Attachment 1.

Salt Lake City provides orange flags at some crosswalks to increase the visibility of pedestrians carrying the flags when they use the crosswalk. Pedestrians pick up a bright orange flag from a container before entering the crosswalk, carry it with them while crossing, and leave it in a container on the other side of the street.  Salt Lake City staff observations of and interviews with pedestrians at the first six Orange Flag Crosswalks indicated that approximately 11% of pedestrians using the crosswalks carried the flags and that the pedestrians who did not choose to carry the flags stated that they thought carrying the flags “looked silly”.

In conjunction with the implementation of its Orange Flag Crosswalks Program, Salt Lake City established an Adopt-A-Crosswalk Program through which individuals and/or businesses in the vicinity of an orange flag crosswalk could “adopt” the crosswalk and agree to monitor and replenish the flag containers as necessary with flags provided by the city.  Please see Attachment 1 for more information on the Salt Lake City Program and pictures of flag containers and signs.

We have concerns about implementing a local Orange Flag Crosswalks Program as presented below:

· We do not know how we would measure the effectiveness of such a program.

· Few communities in the United States implement orange flag crosswalks, and studies suggest that less than 15% of pedestrians use the orange flags at the sites reported.

· The Town would incur costs to establish and maintain orange flag crosswalks.

We estimate that the initial cost to establish an orange flag crosswalk with two flag containers, signs, and a dozen flags would be about $200 per crosswalk.  Ongoing costs would involve replacement of flags, signs and markings as necessary.

Advisory Board Recommendations:

The Transportation Board recommended that the Town Council consider providing orange flags at the following two locations for an evaluation period of twelve months:

1) Airport Road and Hillsborough Street/Umstead Road

2) NC 54 and Hamilton Road

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board recommended that the Town Council consider installing orange flags at the following two locations:

1) Pittsboro Street Crosswalk at the State Employees Credit Union

2) NC 54 and Hamilton Road

Summaries of advisory board discussions are provided in Attachments 2 and 3.

CONCLUSION

We recognize that the pedestrians who choose to carry orange flags at crosswalks could have improved visibility.  However, we do not know how the effectiveness of such a program could be measured unless this was a large-scale, long-term and relatively expensive experiment. We also think that, based on information from other programs, only 10-15% of pedestrians would use orange flags provided at crosswalks.  For these reasons, we do not recommend the implementation of Orange Flag Crosswalks in Chapel Hill.

MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION

We recommend taking no action.

If the Council wishes to implement an Orange Flag Crosswalks Program, adoption of the attached resolution would direct the Manager to install orange flags and signs at two crosswalk locations to monitor the use and effectiveness of the flags for twelve months.  Funds for the trial program would come from the Public Works Department budget for signs and markings.

ATTACHMENTS

1. March 24, 2003 Council Report (p. 4).

2. Summary of Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board Discussion (p. 8).

3. Summary of Transportation Board Discussion (p. 9).

A RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE TOWN MANAGER TO INSTALL ORANGE FLAGS AT TWO CROSSWALK LOCATIONS FOR A TRIAL PERIOD OF TWELVE MONTHS (2005-01-10/R-10)

WHEREAS, the Council is interested in improving pedestrian safety at marked crosswalks in the Town; and

WHEREAS, the Council has received a report from the Manager regarding the use of orange flags at marked crosswalks; and

WHEREAS, the Council received recommendations from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board and the Transportation Board regarding crosswalk locations proposed for orange flag installations;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council directs the Manager to install orange flags and signs at the following two crosswalk locations:

1)

2)

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council directs the Manager to monitor the use and effectiveness of the orange flag installations and to report back to the Council with his findings and recommendations following a twelve month trial period.

This the10th day of January, 2005.