This post--with pictures!--originally ran in the September 2012 Cedar Park Neighbors newsletter. Didn't receive a newsletter? Consider becoming a member of Cedar Park Neighbors by clicking here. In spring of this year, the University City District received the go ahead on a proposal for safety improvements to the intersection of 48th and Baltimore. The improvements benefit from funds and services provided by the University District and the Pedestrian Plaza Program sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities that seeks to reclaim concrete for communities by transforming excess street capacity into new public spaces for the benefit of pedestrians.
Neighbors in the immediate vicinity were consulted and meetings were held to review preliminary designs. Everyone agreed on the need to introduce traffic calming strategies and safer pedestrian crossings in a redesign of this busy, confusing, and dangerous intersection. The new design will be implemented on a pilot basis and will include repainting of the street in order to demarcate areas available to pedestrians but off limit to cars. Barriers and planters will be installed to protect pedestrians and alert cars to the new traffic configuration. The project will go through a period of observation and evaluation that will allow for adjustment before any permanent improvements will take effect.
The project, originally slated for implementation in June, has been temporarily delayed to allow for completion of the trolley track repairs underway on Baltimore Ave. Residents can look forward to safer crossings when the project commences in spring, 2013.