City of Charleston Pedestrian Safety Program

CHARLESTON, SC – On April 28, 2011, the City of Charleston will expand its Crosswalk Flag program to include the intersection of Calhoun Street and Jonathan Lucas Street/Barre Street.  

In 2007, the City kicked-off its Pedestrian Safety Program which focuses on education, engineering and enforcement. The purpose of the Pedestrian Safety Program is to bring awareness to both drivers and pedestrians by implementing safety initiatives within the City. 

The intersection of Calhoun Street and Barre Street/Jonathan Lucas Street sees a significant number of pedestrians utilizing the intersection and having to interact with a significant amount of vehicular traffic.  The purpose of initiating crosswalk flags at this location is to enhance pedestrian safety with the hope of reducing vehicle-pedestrian conflicts and preventing future accidents. 

The principal idea for the crosswalk flag is simply that the pedestrian crossing the street carrying an orange flag will be safer by being made more visible to drivers. Additionally, having the flags located at the corners of the intersection will tend to draw driver’s attention to locations where pedestrians would be standing while waiting to cross.  As pedestrians attempt to cross the streets they pick up a flag from the container and cross the street by either waving the orange flag or just holding the flag in such a manner that it may be visible to drivers.

The City created a partnership with Roper Hospital for this program and the institution has agreed to “adopt” the intersection of Calhoun St & Barre St/Jonathan Lucas Street by continuing to restock and maintain the flag availability in the future. This intersection will be an extension of the current partnership between the City and Roper Hospital that includes Calhoun Street & Courtenay Drive and Charleston Center Drive & Courtenay Drive intersection.