One week after a truck wrecked the front of a historic midtown building, some residents and business owners are saying they'd like a traffic signal for what they say is a dangerous intersection. Several people sitting at Harry's Cafe, a popular sidewalk cafe next door to the damaged building, narrowly escaped serious injury when an Icee truck and an SUV collided at 16th and U Streets and ran up onto the sidewalk. Locals say last Tuesday's accident was one of many that have threatened people v... Suzanne William Burg 2009-05-27T18:47:12Z 2009-05-27T18:47:12Z

We have something like that on Stockton Boulevard by the UC Davis Medical Center, another high-traffic street for both pedestrians and cars.

William Burg 2009-05-27T18:47:12Z Anthony 2009-05-27T18:42:07Z 2009-05-27T18:42:07Z

The city should look into doing what Stockton did with their pedestrian traffic on El Dorado Street. When someone crosses a street, poles at each side of the street and markers on the ground along the crosswalk flash yellow. It makes it very easy to see when someone is crossing and traffic actually stops when someone crosses.

Anthony 2009-05-27T18:42:07Z William Burg 2009-05-27T17:51:52Z 2009-05-27T17:51:52Z

If experiences on 19th, 21st, P and Q Street are any indication, a "road diet" reducing the street from 3 to 2 lanes would take traffic a bit farther away from pedestrians while maintaining traffic flow. Having lived alongside the four aforementioned streets, both driving and walking them regularly, the transition had very little effect on traffic but made both streets far more comfortable to walk and bike. Traffic tends to be more limited in top speed but more even--instead of groups dashing from one stoplight to the next, a more consistent stream of traffic. A three-lane street tends to become an expressway. 16th Street is perhaps one of the most underrated walking streets in the city. It has lots of great little stores and some terrific restaurants (like Harry's!) but the sheer volume of traffic makes it an uncomfortable (and, as we have seen, unsafe) place to stroll.

William Burg 2009-05-27T17:51:52Z Kasey Cotulla 2009-05-27T16:53:40Z 2009-05-27T16:53:40Z

One thing to consider is that a stoplight at U Street will back up traffic into the busy 3-way intersection at W St. and 16th. That intersection has traffic feeding off the elevated freeway, in addition to three lanes each of one-way traffic on W and 16th. I hope a sensational building vs. auto accident doesn't create a reactionary response that isn't well thought out.

Kasey Cotulla 2009-05-27T16:53:40Z Brian McDonald 2009-05-27T16:50:21Z 2009-05-27T16:50:21Z

I wholly agree that intersection is super unsafe. Just as the intersection at 20th and K remains with a flashing red signal that everyone blows through. But I hope they don't put up a traffic light at 16th and U st. It doesn't matter if they have a light there or not, there's always going to be stupid people, bad drunk or unsafe drivers and it's going to cause a major traffic slow down for people exiting 16th st exit off the freeway. Clogged traffic makes people do desperate things, people running late or angry and more accidents will happen.

Brian McDonald 2009-05-27T16:50:21Z