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SALT LAKE CITY — The time is now that you don't need to push the button.
As University of Utah students walked toward an intersection of 500 South and Guardsman Way on Tuesday, they came across crosswalk button signs that read "push or wave" to signal the button. People seeking to cross the street near the Rice-Eccles Stadium simply have to stand or wave their hands within about 3 inches of the button for it to work, says Mike Blanchette, a traffic engineer for the Utah Department of Transportation.
The range could be extended to nearly 2 feet if needed.
"It's kind of circumstantial, but typically — when we first install it — we'll start off kind of small so it doesn't negatively impact traffic operations," he explains, standing near one of the buttons as a few students shuffle behind him to cross the street.
This intersection is one of nearly 250 UDOT-managed intersections now equipped with accessible pedestrian signal technology, where someone only has to be close enough to the signal — or even use their cellphone — to activate the signal before crossing the street.
State transportation crews began installing these types of crosswalk buttons about two years ago, adding them to all state-managed crosswalks in Cedar City and Moab. This intersection near the University of Utah is among the growing number of crosswalks with accessible pedestrian signal technology in Salt Lake City, Logan, Ogden and Provo.
UDOT aims to have this technology installed at every state route intersection with signals by 2033. Blanchette said the technology — which includes enhanced audio cues — is mostly geared to help people with disabilities safely cross any road.
"People who either don't feel comfortable touching the buttons or maybe they're disabled and they can't actually reach up and touch the button, they can use motion or waving to activate that crossing," he said.
People can still push the button if they prefer or they can use the PedApp, an app created by the button technology company Polora that allows people to digitally push any crosswalk button. The latter is advertised as an alternative to help people who are visually impaired or don't want to touch the button, which was a frequent scenario during the pandemic.
UDOT officials say $800,000 is allocated every year to convert to this technology by the next decade, which costs about $7,000 per intersection.
Agency officials say the new technology has been received favorably so far. Kris Johnson, a Provo resident who uses a wheelchair to get around, is one fan of the technology, telling UDOT that he uses it to get to the Provo Rehabilitation Center.
"It's made crossing the street much safer for me and several other residents at the care center," he said, in a news release.
UDOT has also reached out to various cities about their plans with the hope that they will adopt similar technology at city-managed crosswalks, Blanchette told KSL.com. That would provide residents with a seamless system without the need to research which roads are owned by the state — and preferably they'd be accessible on the same app.
He added that the agency opted for this system over automatic signals — an option some cities implemented during the pandemic — because it can be "detrimental" to intersection traffic flow.
The change may help improve pedestrian safety, which remains an issue. There have already been 29 pedestrian fatalities this year, but the state has reported at least 36 fatalities every year since 2015, according to Zero Fatalities, a joint venture between UDOT and the Utah Department of Public Safety.
It's not the only technology change that Utah has looked into to improve crosswalk safety. UDOT recently began testing lidar (light detection and ranging) technology at a few intersections in Salt Lake City, Provo and Murray, which use lasers to track when a threat exists in an intersection to create signal adjustments. For example, it may add a few extra seconds to a crosswalk time if someone slips and falls while in it.
"We are always looking at ways to use emerging technology to increase safety on our roads," UDOT traffic signal operations engineer Mark Taylor said in August.
