In a subtle way, I truly believe that the pedestrians appreciate this. It's not just the highway job. It's not just for the cars. It's for people also, and I certainly notice these and appreciate them. I think they're also a safety feature. It clearly designates the path for the pedestrians, and they're more likely to stay within that path, if you give them their own very special space.
There are several features in this photo that are worth pointing out. To begin with, the pedestrians are walking through a construction area. Their path is probably somewhat changed from what they're accustomed to. I believe it's worth providing some additional flagman or traffic control agent as shown here, because the people are distracted by the construction.
They're probably walking some unfamiliar route and it's worth providing some additional protection, some additional signage. In addition, you can see the painted crosswalk and you can contrast that with the previous slide, which showed a permanent textured feature. It's much more attractive and much more desirable.
Here's another view of the pedestrians winding their way through the construction area. Because the crosswalks were replaced with these architectural crosswalks, the pedestrians had to be diverted to walk around those areas while the construction took place. This has to be very carefully done. You don't want the pedestrians searching for a safe pathway. You have to make it absolutely foolproof, so that nobody wanders into the construction space.
That's being done here very effectively. In addition, when they cross the travel roadway, as you see, a traffic control agent was there to give them further protection. There is a bus in the background, and very often you need to shift the bus stops to accommodate the construction. Every element that impacts the public has to be carefully thought through and coordinated with the public, so that everyone has advanced notice. These things may seem trivial and incidental to the construction, but they are very, very important to the public