What's happening now?
Project design is complete; construction scheduled to start Summer 2021.
Project Background
Safer Shoulders is a new program for providing interim pedestrian facilities throughout the city where sidewalk construction is not financially possible. These facilities are not meant to replace sidewalks, rather to provide a new low-cost option for quickly upgrading priority pedestrian streets to be safer and more comfortable until sidewalks are built. The concept is simple: widen the shoulder area of streets to provide enough space so pedestrians are not forced to walk in the street. The design concept can also incorporate additional physical separation, such as wands or curbs with stormwater gaps. To maximize cost effectiveness, PBOT is taking advantage of opportunities to coordinate the work with the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) stormwater facility improvements.
There are city locations where safety priorities can be addressed through alternative street design measures that offer improvements when funds are lacking for more extensive upgrades. Creating safer shoulders or other alternative low-cost walking treatments by widening and paving the shoulders in places where sidewalks cannot be provided has been shown to reduce pedestrian crashes by 71%. The Fixing Our Streets funding for Safer Shoulders will be used in partnership with the Bureau of Environmental Services.
The new Safer Shoulder design for pedestrian facilities is being piloted on SW Stephenson and SW Hamilton.
- SW Stephenson: SW 35th Ave to SW Dickinson Ct
- SW Hamilton: SW 47th Dr to SW 45th Ave
Other project components include:
- Infill missing gaps of sidewalk
- Add vertical protection for more separation from vehicle traffic at widened asphalt
- Add pedestrian crossings
- Add speed cushions for traffic calming along SW Stephenson
Related documents
Project Funding
$892,000 from Fixing Our Streets