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Urban Street Design Guide Index

Urban Street Design Guide
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Conventional Crosswalks

Conventional Crosswalks

Crosswalks should be designed to offer as much comfort and protection to pedestrians as possible. Historically, many crosswalks were designed using inadequate, narrow striping, setbacks, deviations from the pedestrian walkway, and considerable crossing distances.

Intersection crossings should be kept as compact as possible, facilitating eye contact by moving pedestrians directly into the driver’s field of vision.

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Before
After

Crosswalks should be aligned as closely as possible with the pedestrian through zone.

Critical

1 Stripe all signalized crossings to reinforce yielding of vehicles turning during a green signal phase. The majority of vehicle­-pedestrian incidents involve a driver who is turning.
2 Stripe the crosswalk as wide as or wider than the walkway it connects to. This will ensure that when two groups of people meet in the crosswalk, they can comfortably pass one another. Crosswalks should be aligned as closely as possible with the pedestrian through zone. Inconvenient deviations create an unfriendly pedes­ trian environment.
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3 High­-visibility ladder, zebra, and continental crosswalk markings are preferable to standard parallel or dashed pavement markings. These are more visible to approaching vehicles and have been shown to improve yielding behavior.
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Street lighting should be provided at all intersections, with additional care and emphasis taken at and near crosswalks.
4 Accessible curb ramps are required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at all crosswalks.

Recommended

5 Keep crossing distances as short as possible using tight corner radii, curb extensions, and medians. Interim curb extensions may be incorporated using flexible posts and epoxied gravel.

See Interim Design Strategies

6 An advanced stop bar should be located at least 8 feet in advance of the crosswalk to reinforce yielding to pedestrians. In cases where bicycles frequently queue in the crosswalk or may benefit from an advanced queue, a bike box should be utilized in place of or in addition to an advanced stop bar.
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Stop bars should be perpendicular to the travel lane, not parallel to the adjacent street or crosswalk.

Optional

Right­-turn­-on-­red restrictions may be applied citywide or in special city districts and zones where vehicle­ pedestrian conflicts are frequent. Right­-turn-­on-­red restrictions reduce conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians.

References

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Adapted from the Urban Street Design Guide, published by Island Press.

References

References for Conventional Crosswalks: 9 found.