University of Michigan students running to get to class at the Biological Sciences Building, tourists visiting the Museum of Natural History and Blue Bus drivers coming back from North Campus all have one thing in common: they all have to cross one of the busiest intersections on campus.
More than 1,500 pedestrians cross North University Avenue near the Central Campus Transit Center per hour during peak times. This August, the University installed a crosswalk signal in the hopes of improving pedestrian safety and limiting congestion.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, William McAllister, the University’s general manager of transportation and maintenance, said the crosswalk signal aims to increase the safety of both pedestrians and drivers.
“The two main factors that led to installing the pedestrian signal at North U were improved pedestrian safety and transit efficiency,” McAllister wrote.
This past January, Crashes In Ann Arbor recorded a pedestrian crash at the intersection of North University and South Thayer Street. In 2023, 11 serious injuries and one death were recorded throughout the Ann Arbor area — the highest number of traffic incidents since 2014.
McAllister wrote that, since the signal’s recent installation, its effects have already been felt on campus.
“While the first week of the semester is a very small sample size, we have seen the expected results- a more orderly pedestrian/vehicle interaction at the crosswalk,” McAllister wrote.
The new signal will allow students to cross for 75% of the timing cycle during peak hours of the day. In an interview with The Daily, Taubman graduate student Brianne Brenneman, president of the Planning and Architecture Research Group, acknowledged the frustration both drivers and pedestrians feel at such a busy crosswalk.
“In my experience as a pedestrian, bus rider, and then I’ve also in the past attempted to drive my car on that stretch of road, it was frustrating as all three of those,” Brenneman said. “Really, no one was winning. In my opinion, as a pedestrian, the mindset is that we should get to cross, even if there are cars and buses waiting. But as an urban planner, part of my brain also goes to efficiency, but also equity.”
Brenneman emphasized the crosswalk’s role in increasing accessibility by providing a designated time period for individuals to cross and a clear signal for when it is safe to do so.
“Where a crosswalk like this serves the most vulnerable is especially for students with any physical mobility or visual impairments, because now there is a safe place that they know that they can cross at any at a certain time and not have to worry about cars and buses, whereas before you had to be very aggressive as a pedestrian,” Brenneman said. “And for people with mobility challenges, that could actually become a really unsafe place for them to try to cross.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA sophomore Ava Lubman said she felt the updated crosswalk was disorienting.
“I found it difficult to cross the street to get into the School of Dentistry; the delineation between where cars and students go was confusing,” Lubman said. “Pedestrians crossed when (it) was convenient, not when signaled.”
As students continue to jaywalk, Brenneman said they may be more at risk if drivers now assume the intersection will be clear of pedestrians.
“The cars are not expecting for people to cross anywhere now,” Brenneman said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, people will cross at this crosswalk. That’s why there’s a crosswalk.’ So as students decline that assumption, which I think they will continue to do, at least for a while until this crosswalk becomes the norm, I think it’s really going to be problematic for safety.”
Daily Staff Reporter Anjali Budhram can be reached at abudhram@umich.edu.
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