The H.A.W.K. (High-intensity Activated CrossWalK, yes, sometimes these acronyms stretch a bit to become recognizable words) signal installation appears complete now along the Hahn Arroyo (Paseo del Nordeste) trail at Carlisle. The signal was installed in City reaction to the killing of 19 year-old Kayla Vanlandingham back in July.

In terms of what’s new, we’ve got the signal components, added crosswalk striping, and I don’t remember that stop sign being there previously. The beg button seen above, notably on the left side of the trail for some reason, features the new style button and a truly booming “WAIT!!!” voice. The wait time, experienced yesterday when I tried it a few times, is the typically short HAWK wait-time relative to the sometimes eternal waits at “real” signalized intersections (e.g., Lomas and Edith).

During testing yesterday morning (a Friday, but with reduced day-after-Thanksgiving traffic), compliance was good as I went across solo. Also good is the apparent setting of the crossing time, 3.0 feet per second by my count (about 84 feet of crossing and right at 28 seconds to cross). One user caveat about such a good crossing time is that the drivers I interacted with yesterday were rather chomping on the gas pedal bit and zoomed as soon as I was past their side of the stroad. I’d be hesitant to ride at normal speed approaching and though the crossing toward the tail end of those 28 seconds.

One nit-pick about the crossing is that the light placement makes it nigh impossible for you to see what’s going on in terms of whether the HAWK is flashing yellow, etc.

The lights are directly overhead and/or at angles that make it impossible in daytime to figure out what’s going on. You pretty much have to just listen to the “WAIT!!!” guy, look to the far side countdown signal, and, of course most importantly, stare at/down approaching drivers to see if they’re gonna be compliant or not.

While it’s great to have another bit of walker/roller safety infrastructure around town, this new HAWK signal is yet another somber de facto memorial placed in reaction to yet another death. There are so many around town; e.g., the HAWK on Louisiana near Cleveland Middle School where 12 year-old Justine Almuina was killed in 2017. And any Hahn Arroyo user knows the trail most definitely could use more HAWKS and other safety measures at even more dangerous crossings such as Wyoming. Same can be said for every other arroyo trail not named “North Diversion Channel.”

But at least crossing Carlisle might be a little safer now; it’s just too bad it took yet another active transportation death to make it happen.