SE Bluegrass News

Berea City Council Addresses Pedestrian Safety

Berea has made progress to address pedestrian and bicyclist safety in recent years, but more can be done, according to Madison County Health Department Education Director Lloyd Jordison.

During a Tuesday meeting of the Berea City Council, Jordison encouraged the city to adopt the Complete Streets, Roads, and Highways Policy from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which was released last fall. The policy recommends adopting uniform standards for crosswalk design and accessibility, in theory making the city safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

 According to statistics presented by Jordison, there has been an annual average of 5.7 collisions in Berea involving pedestrians, and approximately 1.1 collisions involving cyclists from 2013 to 2022.  

Of those accidents, approximately 3.4 pedestrians per year suffered injuries, while cyclists suffered an average of .80 injuries annually, according to statistics. During that 10-year span, nine Berea pedestrians were killed in collisions, while there were no fatalities involving bicyclists.

Jordison stated those accident figures may seem relatively low at first glance, but the fatalities and injuries can have far-reaching consequences for the local residents involved.

“It chokes me up to think of the people who had to deal with that, and these are folks right here in Berea,” Jordison said of the traffic fatalities. Jordison added Madison County has averaged about two fatalities per year during the same period.

There are two remedies suggested by Jordison; that the city consider adopting the state’s complete streets, roads, and highways policy, and secondly, to work to install higher visibility cross walks. Jordison cited statistics from the Federal Highway Administration noting that high visibility crosswalks, in which the asphalt is painted in a piano key style, can reduce pedestrian/cyclist-involved collisions by as much as 40 percent.

Jordison specifically recommended upgrading sidewalks on Chestnut Street, Old Town, other high pedestrian traffic areas in town, and creating safe routes to schools. “Berea has been on the forefront of a lot of stuff, with people being active and walking and enjoying the trails, and my hope is that Berea will make it a policy to start looking at these areas,” Jordison said.

For Berea City Council members, Jordison’s presentation was a reminder of concerns about pedestrian safety in other areas of the city. Councilmember Ronnie Terrill again raised the issue of the bridge at Highway 1016, noting that children cross the bridge because of its proximately to Silver Creek Elementary.

“Kids walk across the bridge. One of these days a kid is going to get killed, and we don’t want that,” Terrill said, going a step further to request that Jordison and city officials lobby state transportation officials to fund measures to make the bridge safer for pedestrians.

Councilman David Rowlette agreed, noting the lack of sidewalks along 1016 is a continued concern. “I live out there and probably once a week come close to clipping somebody on that highway,” Rowlette said. “They have no choice but to walk out in the highway.”

Citing two pedestrian fatalities over the past three years on Highway 21, near Christmas Ridge and Bratcher Lane, Terrill said the city is working on pedestrian safety, but that more effort is needed.  

“We are doing something, the city is doing something,” Terrill said. “We’ve got electronic lights to monitor speeding. But we need to do something like putting sidewalks going to Indian Fort.”

On a related note, local resident Peggy Coyne addressed the council, stating she has been in contact with State Representative Joshua Bray concerning pedestrian safety on Highway 21, and that he reported having discussions with state transportation officials about possible funding for road upgrades in the 2024 budget. Coyne also expressed appreciation to Terrill.

“I want to thank Ronnie for bringing up the dangerous nature of [Highway] 21, because it is a very dangerous road,” Coyne said.

During council comments, Rowlette said it may be time for a city delegation to approach officials in Frankfort to gain funding for needed pedestrian safety improvements in places like Highways 21 and 1016.

“He [Jordison] said we’ve been averaging .9 fatalities per year over the last 10 years, and I think we can do better than that. I think the city has done very well over the last decade to commit funds and resources as best we can, but let’s make it a high priority to get some of these things done,” Rowlette said.

In recent years, the city has succeeded in securing bi-partisan support from the state to enhance pedestrian safety on Scaffold Cane Road and along Phase II of the Berea Bypass, both of which will have sidewalks and shared use paths.  

Original source can be found here.