BOISE, Idaho — ACHD is about to start making pedestrian-centered changes to the intersections of 15th and Fort and 16th and Fort. This comes after the community raised alarms about issues along both those roads. ACHD says they will be adding flashing crosswalks, bigger sidewalks, and more lights, as well as decreasing the speed limit.
- Advocates say those steps are good to start, but a lot of issues come from further south on those roads, so there needs to be work there as well.
- ACHD told Idaho News 6, they will have to wait to see how the first round of changes help the situation.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
15th and 16th, two busy streets just southwest of Downtown Boise are getting major upgrades.
In January Idaho News 6 reported on the multiple pedestrians who have been hit on these two blocks in recent years.
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One of those was Jeff Garrett, a guest of Interfaith Sanctuary homeless shelter. He was hit by a car on Americana in May and later died.
ACHD says improvements are coming fast though.
Each corner on the intersections of 15th and front and 16th and front will have rectangular flashing beacons.
"It's a button that can be activated on any of the corners, when a pedestrian activates the button all four corners will light up," Said Matt Degen, the Safety engineering manager for ACHD.
Both these streets will also see the speed limit decrease from 30 mph to 20 mph between River and Grove, the sidewalks will get widened for pedestrians and there will be an addition to lighting.
"Anything you can do to provide additional support to those pedestrians warrants the Highway district making improvements," Degen said.
"With the speed reduction, and the build-out, and the lights on this side, it will improve some things for sure," Said Jodi Peterson-Stigers
Peterson-Stigers runs Interfaith Sanctuary and alerted Idaho News 6 to the problems here.
She tells me she's excited about the changes North of the Boise connector. But she also walked me to the south side of it to show me where there still is a problem.
"This is where all the incidents of the accidents, death and injury has occurred," Peterson-Stigers said. So I'm just not clear if what they're doing on that side is enough to reduce the death and injury on this side."
Peterson-Stigers tells me she hopes for more changes, like an intersection on Cooper Street. Pedestrians, a lot of whom are guests at the shelters, cross the street south of the connector. According to Idaho Transportation Department Data, that's where most of the most serious accidents happen.
Idaho News 6 reached back out to ACHD about changes south of the connector and they told me they have to assess how these changes go first.
"Once drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians have the opportunity to get used to the changes, we will have a better understanding of any future needs," Said an ACHD Spokesperson. "If additional needs are identified, ACHD will continue to make necessary improvements to address safety concerns."
Peterson-Stigers is still hoping for more.
"They've been great to work with, my gut is though that I don't think we've gone quite far enough," Peterson-Stigers said.
