Audio Street Crossing Signals Installed at Busy El Paso Intersections
By Joe Olvera
 We’re very excited about this new technology. Anything we can do to improve the lives of our citizens will only help the community at large.
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Audible Pedestrian Signals – are they the wave of the future that visually impaired people can use to maneuver through heavily-trafficked streets? In El Paso, Texas, Audible Pedestrian Signals are now a reality thanks to the efforts of Vivian Rojas, El Paso City Council representative, and other City officials. Rojas represents the Eastridge/MidValley district of this large American city – a community that is just a stone’s throw from its sister city, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
“We’re very excited about this new technology,” Rojas said. “Anything we can do to improve the lives of our citizens will only help the community at large. This is the latest in our efforts to assist blind people in getting around El Paso. The new Audible Pedestrian Signal mechanisms will only portend good news.”
Olivia Schonberger, who is blind, said that she is grateful El Paso leaders are working hard to provide safer crosswalks for people who are blind. “You take your life in your hands when you step off a curb,” Schonberger said.
An Audible Pedestrian Signal is a device installed at intersections or crosswalks to assist people who are blind or visually impaired to safely cross streets. Information in a non-visual format such as audio tones, raised directional arrows and vibrating push buttons are used in conjunction with visual cues to help all pedestrians traverse busy roadways.
There are four types of Accessible Pedestrian Signals:
- Pedhead-Mounted – this is the only type that has been commonly installed in the US. It has a speaker on top of or inside the pedhead (box that displays visual cues). This type has a bell, buzzer, cheep, cuckoo, speech message, or some other tone during the walk phase of the signal only;
- Pushbutton-Integrated – has a speaker and a vibrating surface or arrow at the pedestrian button;
- Vibrotactile-Only –uses only vibration at the pedestrian pushbutton. The arrow or button vibrates when the walk signal is on;
- Receiver-based – provides a message transmitted by infrared or Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology from the pedhead to a personal individual receiver. The person who is blind or visually impaired has a receiver and points it at the pedhead to receive the message.
The initial El Paso project – which cost approximately $80,000 – will bring Audible Pedestrian Signals to seven busy intersections. These signals will not only assist visually impaired people, but also make it easier for all pedestrians to cross the street. Funding for the crossings – known as Priority One Sites – was gathered after the release of a study by city officials and a volunteer group called the Accessibility Advisory Committee.
The Committee designated the seven locations as the most heavily traveled and, therefore, the most dangerous for blind El Pasoans. Schonberger said the new signals will give blind people the ability to “walk a straighter line of direction.” She cited wind, medians, turnabouts, and other “noise makers” that make traveling from one side of the street to the other that much more difficult. “One of the biggest problems we have in crossing the street is when you’re out in the open, it’s very easy to veer off your path.”
Rojas said that Susan Austin – West Side City Representative – also was involved in convincing the City Council to get the program off the ground. When they approached the City Council, Mayor Joe Wardy agreed to get the funding together to make the project a reality. It was gathered from left over monies from other traffic projects.
Wardy said the City Accessibility Committee studied the areas most frequented by visually impaired people. City Engineer Ted Marquez estimated that the project would take 45 to 90 days to initiate, and then about five days per signal for installation. The project started in September 2003. APS devices now are installed at the following intersections: Paisano at Washington; Gateway East at Lomaland; Gateway West at Lomaland; Hunter at Phoenix; Alameda at Boll; Mesa at Main, and Mesa at Mills.
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