St. Joseph City Commissioners have approved the installation of a temporary pedestrian island at the Pleasant Street intersection of Main Street. At a meeting this past week, Assistant City Manager Emily Hackworth told commissioners the island will be put up seasonally, to help pedestrians cross Main Street more safely during the busy summer months.
“Staff had explored this last year,” Hackworth said. “It was going to be difficult to purchase the temporary pedestrian island. We learned that this year it is available. We had some really positive, productive conversations with MDOT, and we have a design for installing a temporary pedestrian island as well as some safety barriers.”
The pedestrian island would be installed at that intersection from May to October each year. Hackworth said MDOT is in support of the idea, and the island will be purchased from Transportation Safety Innovations for $10,000. However, the total cost of the materials and the necessary road markings will be $30,000. With the approval of commissioners, Hackworth said city staff will work to install the new island as soon as possible.
