VIDEO: New Pedestrian Signals Designed to Improve Safety

Kent may have spent $3.2 million on to improve traffic flow on S.R. 59 this year, but officials didn't forget about pedestrians.

New and improved pedestrian crossing signals were included in the project in an effort to make intersections on one of Kent's busiest roadways safer to walk across.

The project coordinates traffic lights on S.R. 59 and East Main Street between Middlebury Road and Horning Road.

Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling said the audio-visual pedestrian signals were not part of a state or federal mandate, but city officials believed they would be a great addition to improve pedestrian safety and added them to the project.

The new signals greet pedestrians only on this stretch of the road, but the audio-visual signals could become the standard on future traffic improvement projects, Bowling said.