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Those who enjoy strolling around Marietta (or who do so in a hurry on their way to work or class) are a little safer now that the city has installed Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons at seven crosswalks in town. The idea is to catch the attention of drivers -- not just for the pedestrians in the crosswalk but also for the vehicles that have already stopped to allow them to cross.
A U.S. Department of Transportation report says "research indicates RRFBs can result in motorist yielding rates as high as 98% at marked crosswalks."
But such a safety measure is not cheap. Average installment is approximately $15,000, according to City Engineer Bob Heady, and now we've got seven of them, with at least one more planned. The manner in which the city and its engineering department scrambled around for funding to cover all that work is genuinely impressive.
Funding came from Safe Routes To Schools, Creating Healthy Communities, Community Development Block Grants, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Federal Clean Air Funds and State Toll revenue credits, Ohio Department of Health grants, and the Urban Paving Project, to name just some of the places city employees searched for money.
The dedication, organization, grant-writing ability and sheer determination it must have taken to pull all that together is to be commended. Drivers and pedestrians in Marietta should be grateful for the kind of work being done on their behalf.