PED BEG BUTTON FRUSTRATION IN EDMONTON, CANADA

-> An Edmonton (Canada) Journal article reports on the disconnect between the walkable culture Edmonton says it celebrates and "beg buttons" — the pedestrian signal lights that never give a walk sign until a person hits the button and waits. They are especially frustrating on popular bus routes where people may wait up to two minutes for the walk signal while watching their bus pull up, stop and drive off.

Edmonton now has official guidelines calling for these beg buttons to be eliminated in high-pedestrian locations. The first was The Way We Move Complete Streets Guidelines (http://bit.ly/2m6WgA7). The more recently adopted Winter Design Guidelines (http://bit.ly/2m6WwPS) echoed the call. A third set of guidelines, the Edmonton Main Streets Guideline (http://bit.ly/2m6MMVB), says lights on walkable shopping strips should put pedestrians first. http://bit.ly/2m6V5AH

from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.