How many buttons do you have to push to cross under this freeway? How many minutes does the crossing take? This dull video goes on and on, just like crossing this road. It’s no surprise that everyone jaywalks here.
The crosswalk connects workers like me in nearby office towers to an entrance to the Guadalupe River Trail. Fortunately, there aren’t many scofflaw pedestrians. Since there aren’t any trail signs, few even know it’s there.
Location: Skyport Drive at the Guadalupe Freeway, San Jose.
Update: I contact the City of San Jose’s Bike and Pedestrian group within their Department of Transportation. They agreed that the crosswalk signal wasn’t timed well. Unfortunately, the State of California’s DOT regulates this particular intersection so they urged me to contact them. I’ll do it after they open tomorrow.
Clare
November 27, 2012 at 6:25 pm
I was on vacation in the Bay Area last week from the UK and made a trip to the kid’s museum in San Jose. I was astounded how long it took to cross at Delmas and Auzeraiz to grab some lunch at the fab IJava cafe. Had I not had my 3yr old with me I would have jaywalked.
ladyfleur
November 27, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Welcome to car-centric American suburbia! The bad news is that this is pretty typical. The good news is that San Jose has staff focused on bike and pedestrian transportation so they’re working hard to correct years of car-centric design.
Richard Masoner (@cyclelicious)
November 27, 2012 at 11:27 pm
Great example of car-centric design with a tiny bone thrown in to “accommodate” people.
I think you’ve seen this post about chickens crossing the road, haven’t you? http://www.softhitpost.com/2012/07/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road/
ladyfleur
November 27, 2012 at 11:39 pm
I have heard the one about the chicken crossing the road, but I haven’t read the blog post. It is, as the first comment says, eggscellent! Seriously, the Walk signals make no sense. There were times when the lane I needed to cross had a red light but they didn’t give me a walk signal.
Bummer is that it’s a Caltrans intersection, which means it’s not likely to change. If it was a SJ city controller intersection we’d have a much better shot at it.
Rachel Unger
November 28, 2012 at 7:59 am
That post is great.
Good on you for doing something about it, too.
ladyfleur
November 29, 2012 at 8:22 am
Thanks, Rachel. I was too busy to call again yesterday, but I’ll try again today.