It’s the little things.

Back in 2007, crossing University Blvd. at Silver SE above via any means of transport other than a car/truck/SUV was a death-defying mid-block attempt just like any such stroad crossing in town. Then that changed.

By 2011, the simple, relatively cheap, raised median/diverter with walker/roller gap above had been installed as part of Silver becoming a “Bike Boulevard.” This low-cost engineering fix transformed the crossing for walkers/rollers, and (most importantly to most people) did not require drivers to do anything different than they were already doing or not doing (e.g, not really watching out for walkers/rollers), other than preventing left turns onto Silver.

Today, this median/diverter continues to provide relative safety and comfort to the many walker/rollers using it every day (note: those median gaps would be a great place for a counter). Creating a low-stress walker/roller network out of existing high-stress engineering cloth doesn’t have to be expensive and doesn’t have to rely on that pesky conundrum of relying on driver compliance.

In fact, I find it quite interesting that the crossing of University on Silver works BETTER because there’s no flashing beacon, no yellow lights, no HAWK signal. It’s just you as walker/roller watching them. No dreaded need to rely on drivers to do something/anything. Hell, consider how much icky reliance on drivers is involved with trying to stay alive traversing a signalized intersection…

This essential component to the simple wonder that is the Silver/University crossing is something that could be cheaply, easily implemented at so, so, so many other mid-block crossings (i.e., not signalized) around town. A few examples:

• Claremont at San Mateo
• Southern at San Mateo
• Pretty much any mid-block crossing and San Mateo
• Pitt NE and Montgomery

• Eucariz SW and Unser (instead of the current median with non-ADA compliant curb and cable fence in about the most unfriendly multi-modal configuration possible)

• Samara NW and Golf Course (yes, really, I know it’s unthinkable to cross Golf Course at ANY point, but…)

Like towels in a box of Breeze Commercial promoted by Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner, BB readers are encouraged to ponder, reflect, and come up with their own candidates for such an engineering treatment. Collect ’em all! If implemented, pretty soon we’d have a far better low-stress network around town and without breaking the community bank or, heaven forbid, making drivers do anything.

It’s the little things.