At Gadsden and Fifth Avenue, the new High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk, or HAWK for short, connects the busy shops and restaurants along Thomasville road with Lafayette Park. This first installment is testing how successful the new crosswalk will be.
For the pedestrian, nothing’s changed: press the button, wait for the signal, cross the street. For the driver, a cautionary yellow light first flashes before turning solid. Next up, double solid red lights require the cars to stop. The red lights end by flashing for a few more second. If no one is walking, it's safe for the cars to drive again. Secreast says the crosswalk is part of an ongoing pedestrian movement in the city.
“With the revamped star-metro service we are pumping millions of dollars in our infrastructure here for sidewalks relating to the new star-metro routes and other locations, but yea, we just have a huge initiative right now.” Says Tallahassee’s Traffic and Mobility Manager Allen Secreast.
Though it’s a new system, Secreast believes the crosswalk will make a busy road safer.