Ninth and Roosevelt Blvd. getting new crosswalk signs

From the Inquirer:

In an effort to protect pedestrians and reduce car crashes on deadly Roosevelt Boulevard, the state is installing 488 pedestrian-crosswalk countdown timers at 46 locations.

The first timers were installed over the weekend, and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.), along with city and state officials, will officially introduce the signals today.

The timers are designed to warn pedestrians how much time they have left to cross the street before the light changes.

Roosevelt Boulevard is one of the city's most dangerous highways, with 2,584 crashes and 57 fatalities in the past five years. Thirty percent of the deaths have been pedestrians.

The timers will be installed over the next two months, at a cost of $440,209, by Carr & Duff Inc., of Huntingdon Valley. The federally funded project uses part of a $3.2 million grant for Boulevard safety improvements secured by Schwartz.

"I wanted to see what we could do that was doable financially and would make a difference, especially for pedestrians," Schwartz said. "We all know how dangerous Roosevelt Boulevard is. These timers really give pedestrians the information they need to cross such a wide road."

Currently, she said, "they have no idea how long that green light has been on."

Of the 488 timers, 170 are to be placed where no signals were before, and 318 will replace existing pedestrian signals.

Here are the locations that will get the new timers:

1. Ninth Street