A safer Capital Boulevard on way

Raleigh plans to spend $420,000 to improve five pedestrian crossings on the notorious city artery

Raleigh has decided to make Capital Boulevard $420,000 safer for pedestrians.

In a report released Monday, the city's Department of Public Works said it would improve five crossings on Capital, Wake County's most fatal road for pedestrians, excluding interstate highways. Since 2002, eight people have died crossing Capital between Peace Street and Durant Road.

At some intersections on Capital, much of which is eight lanes wide, walkers must traverse 50-yard-wide strips of asphalt with no crosswalks or pedestrian signals. The plan would add crossing signals that count down the time left to safely cross and would add medians where walkers can take refuge at the worst intersections.

"If you're talking about intersection improvements, that is a substantial amount of money," said Tom Norman, head of N.C. Department of Transportation's pedestrian and bicycle safety division.

The improvements call for:

* Adding two refuge islands at the intersection with Brentwood Road and pedestrian-activated signals at an estimated cost of $60,000.

* Adding two refuge islands at the intersection with Buffaloe Road, and pedestrian-activated signals at an estimated cost of $60,000.

* Adding crosswalks, pedestrian signals and refuge islands at Millbrook Road, Spring Forest Road and Calvary Drive for $300,000.

Tuesday night, Jovan Burt,19, and Shidai Islam, 20, waited for a bus on Capital Boulevard and complained about racing across Capital at Brentwood Road. "I can't even cross it without rushing," Islam said.

'Folks don't stop'

Warren Smith, 41, waited Monday to cross at Brentwood with his mountain bike.

"It's rough," he said. "You might make it across one side, but not make it across the other ... A lot of folks don't stop."

Raleigh will need permission from the state for the projects. Although the road is ultimately the state's responsibility, Raleigh committed to the improvements after learning of the death toll on Capital. "Just like with everything else, the state has not been investing in the city of Raleigh," said City Council member Jessie Taliaferro. "They're not doing it, and we have to step in."

Norman said the state already was loaded with projects.

"There's a very lengthy list of transportation needs," Norman said. "There isn't enough funding on the state level to deal with the current growth."

Put in perspective, the money for Capital is less than 7 percent of the $6.3 million the city plans to spend on its largest pedestrian safety project on Hillsborough Street, a street with nowhere near the deaths of Capital Boulevard.

Much of Raleigh is built around automobiles, and in recent months leaders have turned their attention to those who don't have them.

This summer, Capital Area Transit riders complained of barren bus stops with little shelter or places to sit. Some shopping centers far from the the city core have been reluctant to allow buses on their property. Many who cross Capital and use the CAT buses can't afford cars and are forced to deal with roads not built with them in mind.

As early as the 1960s Capital was designed as an artery to move cars from downtown to the suburbs as quickly as possible. During construction and expansion of the road, which before I-40 linked Raleigh to the rest of the East Coast, little attention was paid to pedestrians' needs. What was left were stretches of road without sidewalks and safe intersections. Now the city has few resources to fix a history of neglecting pedestrians' needs.

Even if the proposed improvements had been made years earlier, they might have done little to prevent fatalities on Capital. In some places, the distance between crossings can be a quarter mile. When faced with the decision to cross safely or save time, many pedestrians jaywalk -- sometimes taking shelter on narrow medians designed to separate northbound and southbound lanes, not as a safe place for people.

From 2002 to February, Capital Boulevard from Peace Street to Durant Road had 27 pedestrian accidents. Three out of four involved jaywalkers.

"Are people still going to cross at mid-block? Of course," Taliaferro said. "Capital Boulevard is going to need more help."