Pacific Street Safe Routes to School Project

#3 – Safety or Intelligent Transportation System Projects – The County of San Bernardino received a safe-route-to-school grant to install in-ground flashing light systems at 3 crosswalks along Pacific Street and provide newly painted crosswalks at 3 additional locations. Pacific Street, between Perris Hill Park Road and Glasgow Avenue, in the San Bernardino area is a 4-lane secondary highway road running east to west. Pacific Street intersects Perris Hill Park Road, Barton Street, Perris Hill Road, Tippecanoe Avenue, Fairfax Drive, and Dwight Way as “T” intersections, and at Glasgow Avenue as a four-legged intersection. Within the project limits, there are Pacific High School, Fairfax Elementary School, and a church on the north side of Pacific Street which generates a considerable amount of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The accident data analyzed in support of the grant application found that from 2001 to 2011, there were 14 accidents involving pedestrians along this stretch of road. Furthermore, 11 of these involved school age children. Most of the crashes occurred while the pedestrians were in the crosswalk. Consequently, in-ground flashing lights were considered at 3 crosswalks located at Barton Street, Tippecanoe Avenue and Fairfax Drive. At these intersections, the curb ramps were re-constructed to meet current Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. Existing crosswalks at Perris Hill Park Road, Perris Hill Road, and Glasgow Avenue were re-painted under the grant as well. The crosswalks at Perris Hill Road and Glasgow Avenue were also changed to a higher visibility ladder style marking. The in-ground flashing lights are solar powered and use wireless communications. This provides for a less costly and simpler installation, Furthermore, since the in-ground lights are not connected they can be easily replaced as needed. The lights are activated by a push button system that notifies the controller of the request which then communicates with the lights to flash while pedestrians use the crosswalk.