The area around Fruitridge Road and Stockton Boulevard is one of the city’s most dangerous areas for pedestrians, claiming two more lives this past winter. At a community safety meeting in March, Councilmember McCarty tasked WALKSacramento with identifying the locations of most significant concern to pedestrians.
On June 26, WALKSacramento, the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA), and volunteers from the Fruitridge Manor Neighborhood Association and the Tallac Village Neighborhood Association conducted pedestrian and bicycle counts around the intersection of Fruitridge Road and Stockton Boulevard, while City of Sacramento Alternate Modes Coordinator Ed Cox took photographs. Early findings report over 300 pedestrian crossings and more than 80 bicyclists in a two-hour period.
To discover how many people are crossing, and where and how they are doing so, WALKSacramento organized the pedestrian counts to capture conditions on Stockton Boulevard between 21st Avenue and Jansen Drive and on Fruitridge Road between Stockton Boulevard and 63rd Street. SABA conducted bicycle counts in the same area. Counters were stationed at six crossing locations throughout the area and tallied people in 15-minute intervals between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm. The tally form used is based on the one used by the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project. In addition to tallying pedestrians and bicyclists, volunteers made observations about travel behavior and infrastructure obstacles. For example, many pedestrians were observed crossing between intersections, many bicyclists were observed riding facing traffic or riding on the sidewalk, and many drivers were observed obstructing crosswalks and not looking for pedestrians when making left and right turns. Standing out in their bright orange and yellow safety vests, counters were frequently approached by curious passersby who were happy to share their stories and observations of walking and biking in the area.
The counts conducted June 26 will be used at WALKSacramento’s next meeting with community members, to be held July 11, at which the highest priority locations for pedestrian improvements will be discussed and selected. These locations will then be presented to the City of Sacramento Department of Transportation with the goal of them becoming higher priorities in the City’s Transportation Programming Guide (TPG). The TPG prioritizes transportation improvements citywide for all modes to inform the City Council when making funding decisions.
The next meeting will be held July 11 from 6:00 – 7:30 pm at the Stockton Boulevard Resource Center, 5625 Stockton Boulevard. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Thank you to Charles Chenault for the photo above. View more photos taken by Charles and his article on the event here.