New pedestrian-friendly crosswalks installed

Lee Allen, of Seattle, became one of the first pedestrians in Spokane to use one of two new HAWK crosswalk lights activated this week.

HAWK stands for “High-Intensity Activated crossWalK” signal or beacon.

At Ruby Street and Boone Avenue, Allen pushed a button, triggering high-intensity lights, which are pointed toward oncoming traffic to flash yellow followed by solid yellow and solid red.

Traffic stopped and Allen walked across the four lanes of busy traffic safely.

“It’s awesome, man,” he said.

Without the HAWK light, Allen said, he probably would have detoured one block to the north to use the regular crosswalk at the traffic light at Ruby and Sharp Avenue – just to be safe.

The HAWK light at Ruby and Boone was activated Tuesday.

A second HAWK light at Grand Boulevard and 18th Avenue at Manito Park was activated Wednesday.

The new light on Ruby is intended to provide extra protection to pedestrians along the west edge of Gonzaga University.

Jerry Dicker, the developer of Ruby Suites at Boone and Division Street, had called for putting a full traffic light at Boone and Ruby. He even offered to pay for it.

Ruby is the northbound leg of U.S. Highways 2 and 395, while Division is the southbound leg. State transportation officials resisted Dicker’s offer, in part because it would have meant that two traffic lights would have been located just a block apart.

Dicker said he was concerned that Ruby Suites guests who would visit Gonzaga would be at high risk if they tried to cross Ruby and its heavy traffic without protection of a stoplight. A traffic study for the suites project showed that as many as 80 pedestrian crossings could occur between 1 and 5 p.m. on weekdays and more than 200 crossings during an event such as a GU basketball game.

The HAWK light works on demand for pedestrians but is inactive when there are no pedestrians.

Ruby Suites is located in a reconstructed Burgans Furniture store.

A few years ago, Gonzaga and the city installed a different kind of pedestrian-activated crosswalk light on Hamilton Street to help students and other pedestrians cross safely.

That light flashes yellow and is known as a Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon.

Drivers have been complying and slowing or stopping for pedestrians at the well-marked crossing.

On Ruby, city officials said pedestrian traffic between GU and the surrounding area makes that street a good location to test the HAWK lights in a pilot project.