Pedestrian Crossings at Signals in the Town of Huntington

Most traffic signals in the Town of Huntington contain access for pedestrians to cross over certain sides of an intersection. Pedestrians know when and where to cross at a signalized intersection due to pavement markings indicating a crosswalk and a special signal head that indicates permission to cross known as a "Pedestrian Head" or "Ped Head".

These crosswalk signals are usually activated by pedestrians via push buttons, buttons found at the corners of intersections so pedestrians can stop traffic to safely cross a street. Push buttons have existed longer than Ped Heads, before Ped Heads, pedestrians had to pay attention to the main traffic signal heads in their direction to know when it was safe to cross, sometimes, main traffic signal heads are used by crosswalks to indicate when it is safe for pedestrians to cross, much like Ped Heads.

## Pedestrian Permissible Crossings in the TOH

As of May 2019, there are only 2 TOH traffic signals without push buttons to allow pedestrian crossing, Signal 2085A: Pinelawn Road at Marcus Drive, and Signal 2021A: Wall Street at Southdown Road. 2021A is currently scheduled to be reconstructed in 2019 or 2020, adding in pedestrian crossings. 2085A is located in spot on Pinelawn Road where pedestrians don't usually have a desire to cross, therefore the need for pushbuttons or ped heads isn't a necessity.

#### **Pedestrian Head Signals**

As of May 2019, a total of 176 town signals (with 2 more upcoming) are equipped with ped heads to allow pedestrians to cross. The currently supplied ped head design consists of the "Hand/Man" configuration, a red hand which tells pedestrian not to cross, and a white figure walking, indicating permission to cross. When the signal is about to change back to red, the red hand light would start flashing telling people not to start crossing but those already in the intersection to finish up. The newest ped heads also contain a countdown feature, where when the hand light begins to flash, the number of seconds left to cross at the signal will be displayed. This is known as the "Hand/Man/Countdown" configuration, and almost all new ped heads installed in the TOH have this.

Before the "Hand/Man" configuration, ped heads originally had the indications of "WALK" and "DON'T WALK" instead, due to those who may not speak English, this indication was discontinued and was replaced with the universal symbol indications. 5 TOH signals still have "DON'T WALK/WALK" ped heads from their original constructions in service today, some of them being replaced with the newer configurations throughout the years.

#### **Regular Signal Heads operating as Pedestrian Signals**

Sometimes, instead of a Ped head indicating when to cross at an intersection, a regular Red-Yellow-Green head aligned at a crosswalk would indicate when it is safe for pedestrians to cross. These heads would either be mounted to poles by the crosswalks or be mounted overhead facing a curb. These signals are usually use 8-inch lights and most have louvers to limit the head's visibility to pedestrian sight only. Usually only one head is used for this purpose at a signal, but some signals have more than one. These crosswalks are purposely unpainted by the county so they can indicate easier which crosswalks are a non ped head.

As of May 2019, 32 TOH signals have regular heads (at least one) used for pedestrian crossings, Signal 2040A: Old Country Road at New York Avenue, has the most with 3 crosswalks and 2 heads for each crosswalk. Some of the newer technology signals still receive regular heads for a pedestrian crossing. The reasoning behind this is due to a crossing not being used often and it making the phasing programming less complicated when installing the signal, such as 2155A on Elwood Road, whereas the northern crosswalk's ped heads were replaced with regular 8" signal heads.