Last December, a constituent contacted me because their son was struck by a car while riding their bike crossing M at Range Trail. Their son luckily received only minor injuries, but pedestrian and biker safety is something I take very seriously. That intersection is owned by Dane County, so I reached out and requested that they evaluate the pedestrian crossing at that intersection. As I had hoped, the County engineers found that the intersection needed safety improvements. Working together, we developed a plan for the County to install Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons (RRFBs) at the crosswalk (these are the signs/posts when you push the button, they flash, which alerts cars to stop for someone in the crosswalk). After installation, they would turn ownership of the RRFBs over to the City of Verona as they do not currently maintain any RRFBs in our area so it makes more sense for us to maintain them.
And we didn’t stop there. Our Public Works department also contacted Alliant Energy, who handles the streetlights at that intersection. Alliant agreed to add an additional streetlight to better light the crosswalk. After reviewing the streetlight, Public Works has also requested that Alliant add a longer extension arm, which Alliant has agreed to install, hopefully, later this summer.
In the meantime, the RRFBs have been installed and are on the job. Stop by the Range Trail and M intersection and check them out!