Glendale

Eyes on the Street: Crosswalk Upgrades in Glendale’s Adams Square

"Where we meet" is a series of art crosswalks designed by local artist Keith Knueven as part of the city of Glendale's Creative Crosswalks program

By Joe Linton

5:07 PM PDT on September 12, 2024

Eyes on the Street: Crosswalk Upgrades in Glendale’s Adams Square

New artistic crosswalk installation in Glendale's Adams Square. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog

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The city of Glendale recently installed five colorful crosswalks and two painted curb extensions in its historic Adams Square neighborhood. The project is a work of art titled “Where we meet,” designed by local artist Keith Knueven as part of the city’s Creative Crosswalks program. The project was installed last month at the awkwardly angled intersection of Palmer Avenue and Adams Street – adjacent to Adams Square Mini Park.

“Where we meet” crosswalks are located in Adams Square, a historic neighborhood in southeast Glendale

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Aerial photo of most of “Where we meet” crosswalk installation – image via Glendale Library Arts and Culture Twitter

Below is a photo gallery showing off the very photogenic new crosswalks.

Adams Square crosswalk, with mini-park on the right

Adams Square crosswalks and curb extensions

Adams Square crosswalks looking west on Palmer Avenue

The Adams Square crosswalk installation improves safety and aesthetics in a small walkable historic commercial strip

“Where we meet” art crosswalks designed by Keith Knueven

Lastly, notice three perhaps-subtle aspects of the new Adams Square crosswalks.

1: The curb extensions smartly remove what was effectively a dangerous slip lane where southbound drivers on Adams turn right onto Palmer.

Prior to the intervention, drivers frequently ignored the stop sign and whipped around the corner without stopping. The plastic-bollard-protected painted curb extension shut down that de facto slip lane by reshaping the corner into more of a right angle, encouraging a full stop, and putting turning drivers in a position to notice pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers approaching from the left.

Another view of the curb extension making the intersection angle more perpendicular

2: The crosswalk artwork incorporates the full basic “zebra” continental crosswalk white stripes, just adding more patches of color alongside them.

The Adams Square crosswalks incorporate the full standard white stripes of a “zebra” crosswalk (also called a continental crosswalk)

3. The project cleverly incorporated and disguised one low volume residential driveway. (Did you notice it in the images above?)

This Streetsblog editor didn’t notice the driveway until this car backed out of it

Joe Linton

Glendale | Pedestrian Safety | Traffic Calming

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