Walking
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8/6/2007
Rochester has excellent recreational paths for walkers, bikers, etc. However, when a path crosses a street or highway, I do not feel safe because drivers in Rochester claim the streets and highways as their own. Yield for pedestrians happens on occasion, but is the exception, not the rule.
Walking as transportation in Rochester is terrible. The paths are nice for recreation, but they are not direct. You compete for sidewalk space with bikers. Most are courteous but the few ruin the feeling of safe walking because one step to the left or right of a straight line, can get you run over by a bicycle.
The street corners downtown and at select other places in the city have pedestrian walk lights but you compete with the right and left turning cars. The news reports frequent pedestrian-car accidents at the corner of 2nd Street SW and Broadway. The city does not work to remove the need for pedestrians to compete with cars at this dangerous intersection.
The walk lights at most intersections are not exclusive. That is, the City permits left and right turning traffic to move when pedestrians have the walk light. Many cars keep moving despite the walk light. Some move in a courteous manner, others pull within a foot or so as I walk across the street. Some rush to make the turn before I reach "their" space. I do not feel safe in a crosswalk. These conflicts occur because traffic can move during the pedestrian walk time and the City allow these conflicts because it does not enforce laws that require a driver to stop at the stop line then continue if safe into the pedestrian’s crosswalk before turning right or left.
Right turning traffic believes that the place to stop is at the corner rather than the stop line before the pedestrian crosswalk. I never feel safe because there is little or no enforcement with respect to stopping at the stop line.
Most intersections out of the downtown area do not have striped crosswalks. The City has left some pedestrian commuter streets without a sidewalk. Homeowners force pedestrians into the street because they water the sidewalk. In the summer, this thoughtless practice forces me to walk into the street when walking to or from shopping or appointments. The City does not enforce clear sidewalks unless there is clearly a continuous hazard on a sidewalk.
Businesses and residents clear snow from sidewalks very well downtown.
The walk lights in the downtown area work without having to push a button. In the rest of the City, you
Joe | Rochester, MN