Pedestrian scramble

While he did not claim to have invented it himself, Barnes was a strong advocate of it, having observed the difficulties his daughter experienced on her way to school.

The first pedestrian scramble was installed ten days after he took office at the intersection of Vanderbilt Avenue and 42nd Street, to great acclaim.

"[9] Barnes said later, "As things stood now, a downtown shopper needed a four-leaf clover, a voodoo charm, and a St. Christopher's medal to make it in one piece from one curbstone to the other.

[3] In locations like Washington, D.C., pedestrian scrambles shorten the time allotted to each traffic-signal phase by one-third.

[12] In the United States, the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices allows pedestrian scrambles.

In Perth, pedestrian scrambles are mostly found in the CBD shopping area, at the intersections between two of Barrack, Hay, Murray and William streets.

In 2015, Toronto has eliminated the Bay and Bloor scramble crossing after an evaluation study found 'modest positive benefits for pedestrians' and 'negative impacts to vehicular traffic'.

Many intersections in Montreal, especially near downtown, activate the walk signal in all four directions at the same time, effectively creating pedestrian scrambles.

Shanghai as of 2018, has 11 major intersections equipped with pedestrian scrambles across the city in busy commercial areas.

[20] Beijing opened its first pedestrian scramble at the intersection of Lugu West Street and Zhengda Road in 2018.

[25] Hong Kong has numerous intersections operating with an exclusive pedestrian interval but not timed for the longer diagonal crossings and are not marked as such.

Japan's largest and most famous scramble crossing is found in Tokyo, outside Shibuya station which was inaugurated in 1973.

[33] In downtown Tijuana diagonal pedestrian crossing with its own signal in the cycle has been applied at numerous intersections for decades.

Over the next decade, Barnes Dance junctions became less popular, since they increased automobile congestion more than traditional pedestrian crossings did.

[40] During the initial week of the launch, there was confusion between motorists and pedestrians,[41] despite traffic police officers present at the location.

[43] However, the project was dropped as Singapore Tourism Board deemed it unsuccessful in achieving the objective of "generating buzz and interest".

[44][45] The trial eventually concluded on 28 January 2018, but no official statements, articles or reports were published following its conclusion.

[46] In Taiwan, the word "pedestrian scramble" was translated to 行人專用時相 (xíngrén zhuānyòng shíxiāng) in Mandarin Chinese by the transportation authority.

The practice was eliminated in 2011, in order to "balance" resources allotted to pedestrians, vehicles, and mass transit.

[49][50] In Boston, most signalized intersections use an exclusive pedestrian phase, where vehicular traffic is stopped in all directions and it is possible for fast walkers to cross the street diagonally (even though the crosswalks are not marked as such).

[51] A similar situation exists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where intersections with exclusive intervals can allow fast walkers to cross the street diagonally.

They are not, however, specially signed; they use a standard pedestrian crossing light (with added audio signal for the visually impaired).

Local police take control of the vehicular signals and indicate the pedestrian phase by playing Michigan's fight song, "The Victors."

The city of Honolulu on the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii has installed multiple pedestrian scramble crossings in the Waikīkī neighborhood.

On 31 May 2013, Chicago began testing a pedestrian scramble on the intersection of State Street and Jackson Boulevard.

[66] The City of El Paso, Texas, added pedestrian scramble markings to the intersection of Santa Fe Street and Main Drive in Downtown in April 2015.

In San Antonio, there is also a pedestrian scramble at the intersection of Flores and Dolorosa Streets, which is just close to the city hall.

[70] A pedestrian scramble was opened at the intersection of 8th St and Brickell Ave in the Brickell neighborhood of Miami in 2022 [71] In 2023, the Tempe, Arizona city government tested a pedestrian scramble at the intersection of Mill Avenue and 5th Street, near the main campus of Arizona State University.

[72] Research at Transport for London has suggested the installation of a diagonal crossing can reduce pedestrian casualties by 38%.

However, this also results in either longer wait times for both drivers and pedestrians, or shorter traffic-signal phases where less traffic could flow through an intersection in a single cycle.