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lighting (and signing) the way
Like most older cities, Covington has grown gradually and without consistent regulations on streetscape features. One result is a range of lighting and signage standards. While the urban core is somewhat consistently well-lit, for example, newer subdivisions in South Covington were permitted and built without any street lighting at all. As it stands, residents have to band together to press for commonsense fixes to make streets — often those without sidewalks — safer for pedestrians and especially for children waiting for school buses or headed home for dinner. Uniform standards would make for more efficient improvements and seamless expectations from neighborhood to neighborhood.
Signage, too, tends to reflect layers of old standards and doesn’t always do enough to control traffic or to protect pedestrians. One-way streets with hard-to-spot signs, crosswalks with no advance warning to motorists, a family’s request for a ‘deaf child area’ sign denied without explanation. As with other streetscape issues, intersection-by-intersection fixes take too long. Residents deserve design standards that are consistent citywide.
opportunities
Inconsistent lighting and signage contribute to safety concerns throughout Covington, from dark subdivisions to crosswalks that appear safe to the pedestrian but aren’t signed to alert approaching motorists. Among opportunities residents and COVstreets have identified to make city streets safer and more welcoming, devising and applying consistent design standards for lighting and signage is perhaps the least intrusive initiative the city can work on right now. It doesn’t require overhauling street architecture and on balance is relatively inexpensive. And given the city’s investment in visitor-friendly attraction wayfinding — like the ‘Madison Mile’ kiosks downtown — this effort would fit in to broader efforts to make Covington streets friendlier and easier to navigate for all users.
Wayfinding signs can also direct motorists to through traffic routes and away from residential street shortcuts, improving traffic flow and making streets and intersections safer for everybody.
solutions
Baseline improvements for the safety of all street users:
adequate, consistent street lighting from neighborhood to neighborhood, gauged to street type and usage
regular crosswalk advisory signage
stop sign warnings against rolling stops
effective signage for one-way streets to match relevant re-engineering
wayfinding signs directing motorists toward streets appropriate for through traffic
Broader design standards:
city-wide consistency for caution sign placement in order to give drivers a consistent expectation of road hazards and pedestrian usage
signage that matches intersection engineering and doesn’t vary between city- and state-maintained streets