Making Boulder Pedestrian-Friendly for our Youth

I wish my children could independently and safely walk out of our neighborhood. Traffic lights help children be seen at intersections, but there’s new set of skills to master to cross safely at a crosswalk. The two crosswalks most important to my children are the crosswalks at Kalmia/19th and Iris/15th. Neither have a pedestrian-operated flashing light, which makes both of these crossings daunting and scary for children. For my children’s safety, I feel like flashing lights in these locations are absolutely required, in addition to an audible noise and lighted LED strip when it’s safe to walk.

I think another way to make young pedestrians feel safer is to reduce the overall congestion and speeds on the road. In the past couple of years, driving on the roads has become less friendly - I feel like I hear a honk nearly every time I make a car trip. I wish each traffic signal would have a camera to record red light infractions. I love the idea of a vehicle efficiency fee. I also wish there was a way to assess all vehicles a mileage-based fee for number of miles driven on our city streets.