City of Omaha sees ‘measurable success’ following safety changes in Blackstone District

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Six months into a pedestrian safety pilot program in the Blackstone District, the City of Omaha says the changes that have been made have proven to be helpful.

The changes in the area were sparked by two major crashes in the district last year. The first was a hit-and-run that left a 24-year-old woman who was crossing the road with nearly two-dozen broken bones. The suspect still hasn’t been arrested.

The second crash killed 20-year-old Kaitlyn Van Essen. An alleged drunk driver hit Van Essen as she crossed the crosswalk at 38th and Farnam.

And in January of this year, a third woman was hit in the district but was not seriously injured.

Following the string of accidents, the city announced a pilot project in order to improve pedestrian safety in April. The next month, drivers and pedestrians alike saw noticeable changes.

The driving lanes were narrowed by making streetside parking stalls wider. The change forces drivers to slow down.

The area’s center westbound driving lane was turned into a turn lane only, allowing for pedestrian ‘islands’ in the lane. The islands are lightly protected by plastic bollards, and give pedestrians a place to stand in the road while crossing.

More signage and painted crosswalks were also added throughout the district.

“Pedestrians can cross, customers can cross either side of the street, not feel like they’re playing Frogger,” said Jim Farho, the President of the Blackstone business improvement district earlier this summer.

Now, after six months of the changes being implemented, the city says they’re working.

“We’ve had a chance to study some of the data and we’ve learned a couple of things,” says Omaha’s city engineer, Todd Pfitzer. “One is that it has slowed cars down by about five miles an hour, which is a huge success. Any time we can slow traffic through a pedestrian area like this is a really great thing and five miles an hour is a big bite, so we’re pleased with that.”

Pfitzer says the changes also didn’t impact traffic in the way they thought it might.

“It has not negatively affected the volumes through here which we’re also pleased about. We were concerned that traffic would back up too much and maybe people would avoid the area or seek alternative routes, but the data does not support that that has happened. So far so good,” he adds.

Pfitzer says the city was prepared with a backup plan if the current changes didn’t suffice.

“We had some other alternatives that were identified in the charrette we did, they were more restrictive so we wanted to implement this first and see how it worked,” he says. “It has worked and everyone seems to be happy, we’re not getting complaints anymore, and there’ve been no further incidents. We do have other things that we could implement had this not worked but we don’t have plans to right now.”

The temporary changes will stay in the district until streetcar construction begins, which isn’t expected for several more years. Eventually, the changes will be more than plastic barriers.

“Obviously, permanent changes are being evaluated and will be looked at during the design phase of the streetcar process. It doesn’t make sense to come out here today and spend millions of dollars on stuff that will be torn up in two years.”

But for now, it’s working.

“The reduction in traffic as you can see is measurable, the safety for pedestrians by that reduction in traffic is measurable, no further incidents, we’re very happy with where we’re at right now.”

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