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Cape Henry Trail Intersection Safety Improvements – Raised Crosswalks

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At the November 2023 Cape Story by the Sea Civic Association meeting, a safety improvement presentation was given by Steven Lambert, VB Parks and Recreation.  This presentation was in response to safety concerns being raised at previous meetings.  Specific concerns were raised regarding the intersections of the Cape Henry Trail and the long streets of the Cape Story neighborhood (Beech, Oak, Maple, Sandalwood, Bayberry, Wake Forest and Kendall).  The main concern being the large volumes of use by residents conflicting with vehicle drivers that don’t slow down or pay attention to the intersection. You can read the meeting minutes here https://capestory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/11.13.23-csbts-minutes.pdf

The November 2023 meeting resulted in the following Improvement Idea list shown below.  The most important item being how to improve the actual intersections.  The attendees supported moving Stop Signs from the Trail users to the street for vehicle users.  The back-up option was adding speed tables to the intersections.  Speed tables are part of the City’s traffic calming program. 

Improvement Idea
Add/Replace signage at intersections – Evaluate current conditions, clean, repair, replace existing signs, add new share the path signs, new entering high conflict area signs at Kendall and Beech
Refresh/Repainting of intersection crosswalks- old red color is faded from all intersections except Kendall.  Paint all crossing with a vibrant color.
Additional painting of bike path in the neighborhood park– High congestion area should have extra visibility. Paint path in park.
Evaluate and limit parking near intersections – Evaluate off street parking visibility and signage at intersections.  Add signage if needed
Remove vegetation to provide safe line of sight at intersections– Evaluate vegetation impact on safe line of sight at each intersection, remove any obstructions
Install Stop Signs for vehicles at intersections (Bike Boulevard Idea) – Determine if this is possible and if it has to follow the Traffic Calming Process
Install speed tables at all intersections – This is an alternate solution to installing Stop Signs.  If Stop Signs cannot happen, then this solution could be pursued through the traffic calming program
Reduce speed limit on streets from 25 MPH to 15 MPH – This is now possible but enforcement will be difficult.  Determine what process can make this happen.
Add speed limit signs to the bike trail – Determine if speed limit signs can be added to trail and if allowed, how can they be enforced
Increase bike safety instruction – Evaluate if additional bike safety instruction can be implemented in schools, rec centers and neighborhoods

After a year of meetings and research by the City’s Parks and Recreation and Traffic Engineering, it was determined by the City Traffic Engineers that placing Stop Signs for vehicles at multi-use trails was not legal.  In lieu of pursuing Speed Tables through the Traffic Calming program, which takes a long time and requires 80% of the residents to approve, the City suggested installing Raised Crosswalks.

Raised Crosswalks (3 inch height) are similar to Speed Tables (4 inch height) but their process for approval only requires the four adjacent homeowners to agree versus 80% of the entire street.  The Raised Crosswalk designs are shown below.

Cape Henry Bike Trail Improvements at Bayberry Street CONCEPTUALDownload

Compared with Speed Tables and Speed Bumps, the shorter height of a Raised Crosswalk creates less vehicle noise when driven over, no adverse impact to Emergency Vehicles and minimal incline for Trail users.  An example of a Raised Crosswalk can be found on Laskin Road between Artic and Pacific at the Oceanfront (see image below).

A video of the Raised Crosswalk on Laskin can be found below, click on the image to watch the video.  A sound meter app was also used to record cars traversing this Raised Crosswalk. The video and sound analysis were recorded roughly 60 feet from the Crosswalk.  The resultant sound from vehicles traversing the bumps, even the one filmed that was traveling roughly 35 MPH (25 MPH is the neighborhood speed limit), was approximately 75dB.

Cape Story by the Sea Civic Association will be pursuing the City’s recommended installation of these Raised Crosswalks for safety improvements.  The topic will be discussed and voted on at an Association meeting.  If approved, homeowners adjacent to intersections will be contacted and provided the details mentioned above and asked to support or oppose the project.  Intersections with all 4 homeowners approval will be added to future City’s Parks and Recreation budgets for design and installation.  The City has recommended starting with the two intersections next to the Cape Story Park (Sandalwood and Bayberry) due to the higher pedestrian traffic in that area.

Any questions or concerns can be sent to the Civic Association President at  csbts.president@gmail.com