Diagonal Crosswalks: The Breakdown

In August, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation installed diagonal crosswalks at the intersections of Hoover Street and Jefferson Boulevard and McClintock Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard. Here's how this diagonal crosswalk works. 

• In intersections that have diagonal crosswalks, there is an exclusive pedestrian-only phase in which only pedestrians can move through the intersection. This means pedestrians and bicyclists don't have to worry about cars making turns. 
  
• Pedestrians can cross at right angles to the street or diagonally across the intersection.
  
• No cars, trucks or other vehicles are allowed to move through the intersection during the pedestrian-only cycle. This means there is a much lower change that a person will be hit be a vehicle while he or she is crossing the street. 
  
• During the vehicular traffic stage, no pedestrians are allowed to be in the intersection. This allows cars and trucks to make turns without worrying about pedestrians running across the street. 
• For example, cars can make right turns easily because pedestrians must wait, even if it is the light is green. 
• Cars that make left turns also do not have to worry about pedestrians. They only have to concentrate on oncoming traffic, which means drivers have one less thing to worry about at diagonal intersections. 
• At the intersection of Hoover and Jefferson, the traffic cycle takes less than two minutes to go from one pedestrian stage to the next.
• There are some concerns diagonal crosswalks slow down vehicular traffic because no cars are moving during the 30 to 40 seconds it takes for pedestrians to cross the street.
• But city officials say in intersections like this one with many pedestrians in a nonmajor-arterial street speeds up traffic because cars are able to turn more easily during the vehicular traffic stage.

Related Stories:

Read more about the diagonal crosswalks near USC, including student reactions, HERE. 

Diagonal crosswalks are also used in Pasadena to help make it a more pedestrian-friendly place. Click HERE. 

Check out our crosswalk photo gallery HERE.