people-centered intersections

Intersections are complicated. Multiple lanes of cars and trucks headed straight through or turning, cyclists navigating tricky visibility, and pedestrians figuring out when it’s safe to cross. Traffic engineers are generally charged with prioritizing motor vehicle flow, with cyclists and pedestrians only a secondary consideration. (This is especially true for state routes in Covington — the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is concerned with moving cars through the city, not with how residents use and experience our streets.) But we can re-balance intersections for people, getting drivers where they need to go while also understanding that these crossings are in neighborhoods, next to schools and playgrounds and restaurants and shops. Cars are only ever just passing through, but the intersection is a permanent fixture in the landscape of the community.

The good news is that competent planners have re-thought the intersection and come up with a myriad of engineered solutions to make people a priority. We can assess the many sorts of intersections in Covington and re-design them so everyone is comfortable and confident crossing the street, no matter how they’re traveling.