A pedestrian scramble, also known as a 'X' Crossing (UK), diagonal crossing (US), scramble intersection (Canada), exclusive pedestrian phase, and more poetically Barnes Dance, is a pedestrian crossing system that stops all vehicular traffic and allows pedestrians to cross an intersection in every direction at the same time. It was first used in Kansas City, Missouri and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in the late 1940s, and has since then been adopted in many other cities and countries. It was most recently adopted in Toronto in 2008 and in London's busy Oxford Circus in 2009. The most famous implementation of this kind of intersection is in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Naming

The name Barnes Dance comes from Henry Barnes; though he was not the inventor of the pedestrian scramble, he was the first to use the system on a large scale. In his autobiography, The Man With the Red and Green Eyes, he writes that the phrase was first coined by a City Hall reporter, John Buchanan.

Application

In Hartford, Connecticut every crossing outside of the city centre requires all traffic to stop. Many crossings in the city centre do the same, such as the city's busiest intersection at Main and Gold Streets.

In Japan, where over 300 such intersections exist, it is known as a .

In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street, adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square, is a scramble intersection as is Yonge Street and Bloor Street. More intersections in Toronto are expected to follow this method of pedestrian crossing.

In Auckland, New Zealand, the Barnes Dance was introduced in 1958, and became a feature of the city's main street, Queen Street, as well as being adopted in other New Zealand cities. In recent years it has been under attack from traffic planners. It is still used on several intersections on Colombo Street in Christchurch, but the only application in Dunedin at Cargill's Corner was abandoned during the 1980s.

In London, UK, a diagonal crossing has been constructed at Oxford Circus.

Pros and cons

The pedestrian scramble has advantages and disadvantages. It requires vehicular traffic in all directions to stop, losing time for motorists and reducing an intersection's vehicular capacity, although it may be mitigated by time gained removing pedestrian signals across individual streets. It is also often difficult to ensure that an intersection is free of pedestrians at the end of the scramble time. For these reasons, some traffic engineering textbooks discourage the pedestrian scramble except at low-volume rural and suburban intersections where there may be a safety benefit.

However, intersections with high volumes of turning traffic and high pedestrian volumes can greatly benefit from a pedestrian scramble. Capacity in all directions lost during the scramble can be offset by that saved by cross-turning vehicles not blocking the intersection while waiting for pedestrians .

See also

• Traffic light

References

1. Oxford Circus 'X-crossing' opens
2. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/timeline&new_date=21/08
3. Roess, Prassas, & McShane, Traffic Engineering, 3rd Edition (2004), ISBN 0-13-142471-8

External links

• The Barnes Dance (U.S. Federal Highway Administration)
• Historical commentary and photo of Barnes Dance used in Fort Wayne, Indiana at Christmas in the 1950s and 1960's. (Fort Wayne Observed)
• National Post article on Toronto's first pedestrian scramble
• Time-lapse video of scramble intersection at Yonge and Dundas, Toronto