This is the first of a series of articles working to shed light on features of our built environment that encourage (or discourage) people to leave their automobiles behind and take a walk. These articles will focus on issues such as what happens in public rights-of-way—the land between everyone’s private property—which generally includes alleys, streets, sidewalks, and parkways. The primary purpose of rights-of-way is to facilitate the movement of people, services and goods throughout a city. Efficient movement via a right-of-way is important, but too often this movement seems to focus on automobiles.  Less attention is paid to the alternatives: public transit, bikes, and walking. As a pedestrian in Long Beach, one is confronted with this reality when, for instance, standing at the corner of Pine Avenue and Broadway, an intersection at the center of downtown Long Beach’s pedestrian district. You wait for the walk light: which seems like it will never come.

 

The ability to reach one’s destination as quickly and efficiently as possible will affect the mode of transportation people choose. What modes of transportation are actually available depend on planning decisions that ideally weigh the needs of each transit user group, taking into consideration the limited size of any right-of-way and the complexities of intersections. Planners typically design an intersection that includes traffic signals so as to accommodate vehicular and pedestrian traffic simultaneously. When there are lots of vehicles making left-hand and right-hand turns at such an intersection, it can be hard for pedestrians to cross the street. Some cities lack a strong vision for diverse forms of transit, as well as commitment to an overall plan providing for cars, bikes, mass transit, and pedestrians (“multi-modal mobility planning,” in the jargon). In such cities, pedestrian-friendly intersections are often sacrificed for the sake of vehicular traffic. Engineers will sometimes state that this is done for safety, so as to eliminate conflicts between pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Left out of such explanations is the possibility of limiting vehicular movement to maintain pedestrian access: vehicles are almost always prioritized over pedestrians. 

 

The downtown area of Long Beach is one of the most densely developed areas in California. Because it is so compact, in theory this area could rely upon pedestrian traffic to handle many local trips taken by residents, shoppers, workers, and visitors. In reality, this option is in essence discouraged by the transportation policy implemented in Long Beach’s downtown, as can be seen by the fact that there are many intersections with signals that intentionally limit pedestrian access. In particular, there are fourteen locations in the downtown area where pedestrians cannot cross the intersection on all sides.

 

In each of these cases, the ultimate goal is to eliminate pedestrian traffic that is assumed to get in the way of cars, rather than the other way around. This is done without regard to local circumstances: such intersections can be found next to elementary schools, parks, even the city’s most significant transit center. These anti-pedestrian crossings can be found next to some of the densest blocks in the city, as well as some of the most highly touted pedestrian zones downtown. In what can be seen as acts of unintentional civil disobedience, some pedestrians cross these intersections when the light turns green for vehicles. In other words, they cross the street to go north when the light for vehicles going north turns green, even though they are absurdly supposed to walk west, north, then east, all the way around the intersection in question. Apparently this took place so often at one intersection that a guard rail was installed: we are literally putting up barriers to easy walking downtown, rather than facilitating pedestrian movement.

 

The irony is that with good planning, vehicular movement need not preclude pedestrian movement. For instance, along Alamitos Avenue there are many cars turning as one-way traffic along Broadway, Third, Sixth, and Seventh Streets transitions to regular two-way traffic east of downtown. There are three intersections at which pedestrian access is limited because of this movement. But at the intersection of Alamitos Avenue and Third Street, a protected “turn pocket” was provided isolating some of the turning car traffic, which creates an area of refuge to facilitate crossing for pedestrians. There are likely opportunities at some of the other intersections with limited pedestrian access. At the intersection of Broadway and Alamitos Avenue, there is already an area of refuge that could work to redress a missing pedestrian crossing. If such options are not available, maybe we need to rethink valuing cars over pedestrians. Sometimes, something must take priority, and even in car-obsessed Southern California, that doesn’t necessarily need to be the automobile.