The intersection of Perryton Drive and South Hampton Road. Photo by Victoria Hernandez.
Oak Cliff-based nonprofit Better Block is launching a new initiative called Better Intersections, a hands-on, community-powered approach to testing safer streets.
Rooted in the principles of Vision Zero, the idea that traffic deaths and serious injuries are not inevitable, but preventable, the nonprofit is collaborating with city council member offices to launch its first Better Intersections cohort. The cohort will work with three district offices, including District 1 and District 3 in Oak Cliff, to find and implement urban design to improve pedestrian and motorist safety in our neighborhoods.
The initiative came out of the results found through a project near the Better Block office in District 4 at the intersection at Vermont and South Ewing Avenues.
“A lot of students were coming over from the school after school ended, but there were no sidewalks. Cars were speeding, very few cars were stopping at the stop signs,” said Meredith Jones, project manager with Better Block.
To combat the dangers at the intersection, Better Block installed a tactical demonstration for about three months that included installing physical bollards and painting portions of the street. With this installation, 23% more motorists stopped at the stop signs with traffic speeds reduced by 7%, according to a video shared by the nonprofit.
Better Block presented this data and feedback to Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Maxie Johnson, who connected the nonprofit with the Department of Transportation to create a permanent installation based on those observations, Jones said.
The success of the Vermont and Ewing project inspired the launch of this initiative and these next three projects. On Tuesday, June 23, a community meeting was held at the Hampton-Illinois Branch Library for the District 3 project, which will focus on the intersection of Perryton Drive and South Hampton Road.
The project is specifically looking to provide connectivity and safety for the Oak Cliff Nature Preserve, the Hampton-Illionis Branch Library, and Jimmie T. Brashear Elementary by helping to support and encourage more pedestrian activity near Kiest Park and the upcoming redevelopment of the former University General Hospital.
“How can we use this, take this opportunity, to encourage all the people that come to Kiest Park on a daily basis, week in, week out, along with all the other parks that we have in the district?” District 3 Council member Zarin Gracey said at the community meeting. “We have all these people that are coming, how can we start connecting some of these pieces?”
Some of the key themes that came up in the discussion at the community meeting included the traffic from the elementary school pick-up that often trails into the neighborhood at Perryton Drive. Additionally, parking also occurs on that street for school pick-up and for park use, making it more difficult for two-way traffic.
Following the discussion in the library, community members participated in a walk audit, where attendees documented intersection functions that day, identified safety concerns, and observed how people currently move through the space.
Key takeaways from the walk audit included the observation of no buffer between the sidewalk and South Hampton on the west side of the street, and the east side of South Hampton lacks a sidewalk south of the DART stop at the intersection. Individuals also highlighted potential accessibility concerns with the amount of sidewalk space for wheelchair users or parents who use strollers, and delayed walk signals at the crosswalks of the intersection.
The community feedback will be incorporated into the design phase, where the Better Block team will work with a traffic engineer at the city level to get approval for the goal of an August installation for the pilot program. Those installations could include bollards, signage, planters, and paint, and will be up for a 90-day period.
During that period, Better Block will continue to observe the site and then take that information and additional feedback to compile recommendations for the next steps of creating permanent infrastructure investments and safety improvements to the intersection.
The next community meeting for the Better Intersections initiative will focus on the District 1 project of West Clarendon Drive, north of Martin Weiss Park. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 30, at 6:30 p.m. in the Martin Weiss Recreation Center. Attendees can also attend via Zoom.
