Street Safety

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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/2932200

Dec. 5, 2004, 1:08AM

STREET SAFETY

Crossing signal troubles persist

Year after death of a pedestrian, downtown repairs remain in progress

By LUCAS WALL

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

One year after the death of a pedestrian downtown highlighted the city's difficulties in properly maintaining crossing signals, the Department of Public Works and Engineering has improved its performance. But numerous intersections continue to have problems.

Carol Donnelly, 47, died Dec. 3, 2003, after a Metro bus struck her as she traversed Smith at St. Joseph Parkway. The pedestrian signal where Donnelly tried to cross was out of order and partially covered by burlap. City records showed 14 complaints earlier that year regarding signal outages at that intersection.

"The signals were a problem, there's no question about it," said Dwayne Newton, a lawyer representing Donnelly's family in a civil lawsuit filed against Metropolitan Transit Authority contract bus operator First Transit and bus driver Samuel Rivers. "This was a very tragic and horrible accident."

On the day of the accident, the Houston Chronicle surveyed 76 downtown intersections on four major streets and observed problems with the pedestrian-crossing signals at 59 of them. That prompted the city to dispatch crews to check every pedestrian light downtown and make needed repairs.

The Chronicle returned to those 76 intersections last week and noted problems with crossing signals at 32 of them, meaning problems persist at 42 percent of the intersections on Smith, Louisiana, Milam and Travis streets.

Problems observed last week include most of those noted last year: Some signals had bulbs burned out or missing while others were bagged, obscured or mispositioned. Some pedestrian lights were not properly synchronized with the traffic lights, and other intersections didn't have any crossing signals a year after the public works department was admonished to do a better job by the City Council member who then chaired the transportation committee.

Meanwhile, a national transportation policy group released a report ranking Houston as the 10th most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians out of the country's top 50 urban regions. Nearly 100 people have been run over by vehicles in this region in each of the past two years, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Repairs under way again

The Chronicle sent its list of 32 problematic intersections to the public works department late Wednesday. City crews and contractors began fixing the signals at many intersections.

"There are literally thousands of light bulbs in the signals at intersections in the downtown area alone," said Wes Johnson, public works spokesman. "We strive to have no problems, but we know we will always have work to do. The key is to get problems reported in a timely manner so that they can be repaired."

Johnson points out that maintenance of the signals on Smith and Travis streets is the responsibility of Metro because it is rebuilding those two downtown arteries. City officials spoke Thursday with Metro's contractors and stressed the importance of keeping the pedestrian lights in working order, Johnson said