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Kitty corner in the Back Bay
By adamg on Mon, 12/14/2015 - 9:24am
Bettlebrox spotted this crossing sign on Dartmouth Street.
Posted under this Creative Commons license and in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
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Comments
Adorable!
I beat you to it!
Does pushing the button really work to change the light?
Does pushing the button really work to change the light? I can never get a straight answer about that. I would think those streetlights are on some kind of computerized schedule system. I like the cat, by the way.
Some ped lights in Boston
are only activated when you push the button. Other lights have a pedestrian phase that operates all the time. Of course, BTD being BTD, lights that have an "all the time" pedestrian phase still have the buttons - but pressing the button doesn't make the pedestrian phase come any sooner. And of course, there's nothing to tell the pedestrian how the signal phase operates (automatic or button-activated).
Time of day phasing is commonly used for directional changes in traffic flow and/or left turn phases, but is not used for pedestrian phases themselves.
Buttons on auto cycles
Usually that button, on a light cycle that includes a pedestrian phase already, will extend the pedestrian phase (for slower crossers) or be activatable during a different part of the day when the pedestrian phase isn't included by default.
Also, pushing the button on a light cycle that only triggers the pedestrian phase if the button has been pressed doesn't guarantee that you'll get the pedestrian phase right away. The button has to be sensed early enough before the pedestrian cycle check comes up, so you might need to wait what seems like an extra full cycle for it to be added into the loop because you were too slow from when the system checked for the "button pressed" flag. If you've been there for 2 full cycles, the button is not working as intended.
It depends on the crosswalk,
It depends on the crosswalk, intersection, day of the week, and time of day it is.
If you know of an intersection
where the timing of the pedestrian phase changes based on time of day or day of week, please let us know the location of
saidthat intersection.And school zone flashers don't count, as they only advise drivers of the school zone hazard and do not control the movement of pedestrians at the crosswalk.
One example, but I can give
One example, but I can give you many more: Boylston St @ Dartmouth St. The exclusive all-walk phase is automatic from 6 am to 11 pm. At other times, you must press the button.
The general BTD policy is
The general BTD policy is that for the downtown neighborhoods (Financial District, Chinatown, West End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, South End, Fenway), ped recall is turned on (i.e. walk signals will be automatic) for most signals during the day, but not at night. The specific hours vary. Most begin at 6 am or 7 am and end at 8 pm or 11 pm. It depends on expected pedestrian activity at that location. This mainly affects the exclusive pedestrian phases (when traffic is stopped in all directions during a walk phase.) For most concurrent phases (when the walk signal comes on parallel to a green light), they are automatic 24 hours a day. However, if a signal is semi-actuated and has loop detectors on the side street, the concurrent crossing phase parallel to the side street is NOT automatic when ped recall is turned off.
Clear as mud, right?
As they say
That's the wonderful thing about standards, there are so many to choose from.
That's where the cat comes in
The buttons don't actually do anything to prompt a pedestrian phase. BUT! They do generate an ultrasonic tone that only cats can hear.
So the next time you see a cat suddenly go bonkers and run up and down the house for no apparent reason, rest assured, some guy a few blocks away is mashing away at a walk button muttering "c'mon, c'mon!"