Flashing pedestrian beacons going on Main Street

The Shawano Common Council approved spending almost $20,000 for a rectangular rapid flash beacon pedestrian crossing signals for Main Street where the Mountain Bay Trail intersects, the same system in place on Green Bay Street at the trail junction.

The city is getting a $15,000 donation from Shawano Pathways to install the beacons, which means it will only need to pay for about 25% of the project from its own coffers. According to Scott Kroening, public works director, Shawano Municipal Utilities will not be charging the city for its time to install the lighting and the poles.

Kroening noted that the poles won’t go up right away, as the wait is three months from the time of ordering the equipment, but the beacons should be in place sometime during the summer.

“It’s a great way to get some new signals across Main Street,” Kroening said. “I’ve had nothing but positive comments about the one on East Green Bay Street. They seem to really work over there.”

Before the beacons were installed on Green Bay Street, the intersection was one of the most dangerous for pedestrians to cross due to the heavy amounts of traffic on it daily. Even with setting up orange flags for pedestrians to use so motorists could see someone was crossing, there were still times when traffic ignored the pedestrians.

“I’ve definitely seen the difference on Green Bay Street,” said Alderwoman Rhonda Strebel. “For any pedestrian or biker crossing, people do see it and know to stop. The flags help, but the flashing really makes a difference. We definitely welcome it.”

Mayor Bruce Milavitz agreed that something similar needed to be installed on Main Street to allow Mountain Bay Trail users to cross safely.

“It’s definitely long overdue,” Milavitz said.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com