The Safer Pedestrian Crossings Program is a community driven process for requesting and implementing new or improved bicycle and pedestrian street crossings in Salem. This program was a recommendation of the Pedestrian Safety Study and has been created to increase the efficiency and transparency of safety improvement projects in our community. The Safer Pedestrian Crossings Program creates an online platform for the Salem community that:

• Documents all requests for new crossing installations and safety upgrades
• Prioritizes requested projects by the same criteria
• Tracks the project status of requested installations and safety upgrades

How it works

The Pedestrian Crossing Safety Concern link takes you to a simple online form and interactive city map. Type the safety concern and street location to submit a request. Once the request has been submitted it will be added to the map and assigned a project status. If the request meets the basic eligibility criteria it will then be prioritized based on defined scoring criteria.

Crossing installations

All intersections are crosswalks, whether or not they are marked.  The Safer Crossings program is intended to help identify and prioritize safety enhancements at existing pedestrian crossings or to consider adding new mid-block crossings. All requests must meet the minimum eligibility criteria.

Safety upgrades

Safety upgrades to existing or new crosswalks can include the following improvements:

• Flashing beacons:  These are pedestrian activated warning beacons that increase driver awareness of pedestrians at unsignalized or mid-block pedestrian crossings, particularly on multi-lane roads where a stopped car in one lane may block the view of the pedestrian for drivers in the adjacent lane.

• Improved lighting:  Safety at existing crossings may be improved by adding additional street lights at crosswalks.

• Curb extensions:  Expanding the sidewalk or curb face into the on-street parking lane at intersections or mid-block crossings can shorten the pedestrian crossing distance and draw driver attention to pedestrians waiting to cross.

• Signage/Additional markings:  Warning signs and markings can draw attention to existing crossing locations. It is City policy to not mark unsignalized crosswalks unless supplemental safety enhancements are provided.

• Median islands:  These islands enable pedestrians to break up a crossing into multiple segments, allowing pedestrians to judge conflicts with vehicles traveling in each direction separately, while also providing a resting location so that slower pedestrians can wait for a break in traffic. Median islands also draw driver attention to the crosswalk.

Prioritizing requests

Each requested crossing or safety upgrade is evaluated according to two sets of criteria.

Eligibility criteria

The request must first meet the following in order to qualify:

• Location must be within Salem City limits.

• Location must be greater than 300 feet from an improved crossing.  An example of an improved crossing is a signalized crosswalk. Requests for making upgrades to existing signalized crossings will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but not scored as part of this program. 

• Existing road geometry (curves or hills) cannot create an unsafe condition due to limited visibility at the location.

Scoring criteria 

Once the location is deemed eligible it will be prioritized according to the following scoring criteria:

• Street classification (major arterial, minor arterial, collector, local) 
• Proximity to schools, transit, and parks
• Distance to nearest improved crossing
• Equity (derived from census data)
• Pedestrian crashes over last 5 years