CEDAR CITY — The Utah Department of Transportation recently made improvements to the intersection at North Main Street and East Fiddlers Canyon Road after finding that over 500 pedestrians crossed during the observation period.

Jared Beard, who works with the UDOT’s Region Four as a traffic operations engineer, was asked to present information about the intersection improvements at the Cedar City Council Meeting.

UDOT became interested in the project after receiving phone calls from concerned citizens and Cedar City senior engineer Jonathan Stathis, Beard said.

To gain a better understanding of the situation, the agency conducted a traffic study in September “after school got rolling full speed,” Beard said. The intersection is near both Canyon View High School and Canyon View Middle school.

UDOT found that more than 500 people were using the crosswalk during the observation period, Beard said.

Kevin Kitchen, UDOT’s Region Four senior communications manager, said the study was conducted between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. to “capture all the peaks.”

UDOT signal experts out of Salt Lake City used the data to consider ways to make the intersection more effective for pedestrians while still allowing vehicles through, Beard said.

One conflict between cars and pedestrians is when drivers make a right turn but don’t see walkers crossing or preparing to. UDOT added a sign to the mast arm reminding drivers to watch for pedestrians before turning.

The agency also added supplemental left-turn signals, which more clearly give drivers a better point of reference, Beard said.

The “biggest change” UDOT made is lengthening the time allotted for pedestrians to cross because of the high number of children “running across the road,” he said.

The ladder crossings, which are official school crossings, were timed differently than the other two, so the time for those was adjusted to match.

The time allotted for crossing is based on the road’s width, Beard said. For regular pedestrian crossings, it is calculated at an average of four feet per second, and for schools, it is three and a half feet per second.

Additionally, when a pedestrian pushes the call button, the left-turn signal now remains red longer. When the button is not pressed, the light will change as usual, Beard said.

Previously, when the button was pushed, drivers would see a flashing yellow arrow to indicate that the vehicle should go when there is a gap in traffic, which doesn’t account for the time a person needs to walk through the intersection, Beard said.

“That is going to stay red for a certain amount of time,” he said. “What will happen … is we give pedestrians enough time to clear that distance so that we kind of eliminate that conflict.”

However, while the changes are expected to improve the situation, Beard said they won’t eliminate every conflict. He observed the intersection for one hour and noticed groups of 15-20 students, some of whom would run across the intersection late to catch up with friends and others who didn’t use the crosswalk at all.

One “close call,” Beard said, involved a driver who made a right-hand turn while students were crossing the road about 50 feet away from the crosswalk.

The driver reportedly did not see the students until they were around the corner. Beard said that safety would improve if both vehicles and pedestrians “follow the rules.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t fix everything,” he said.

UDOT is interested in working with Cedar City Police Chief Darin Adams to educate students who sometimes cross the road in “unexpected” ways, Beard said.

“Enforcement, education, integration — those are the three things we focus on,” he said.

The Iron County School District also is working to improve student safety in the area, including the addition of a crossing guard, Cedar City News reported in October.

Councilmember R. Scott Phillips said that while it’s important that the city and UDOT address safety concerns, they would need to work with the school district to provide continued pedestrian safety information to students.

“I think these are great steps and we appreciate you and the department taking the time to do this,” he said.

When Cedar City Mayor Garth Green opened the floor to public comment, Sheral Whicker thanked UDOT and city staff for “taking us seriously and doing the work.”

“It means so much to us that you would hear us and help,” she said.

Additionally, Whicker suggested the speed limit on North Main Street be reduced from 45 miles per hour as it could decrease the number of “bad accidents” and give pedestrians more time to cross the road.

“That was something that many of us were hoping for was that would be slowed down to 35 because there are 500 kids crossing there,” she said.

To listen to the presentation on Cedar City Council’s YouTube channel, click here.

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