Greg Polman has been legally blind since he was 17. He uses a guide dog, but he’s still apprehensive about crossing a busy downtown street.
“You have to be cautious to make sure the light did change. You may lose five or six seconds trying to figure out what color the light is,” said Polman, senior vice president of public policy for the Chicago Lighthouse, an advocacy group representing the blind and visually-impaired.
“Some busy intersections in the Loop have so much noise in the environment that you can’t hear the traffic. There’s a lot of construction noise. Electric cars and hybrid cars are quiet. You don’t get the cues you used to get years ago when cars rev up their motors.”
Relief is on the way for Polman and other blind or visually-impaired pedestrians like him.
A federal judge has ordered the city to speed the painfully slow installation of electronic signals currently in place at just over 3% of Chicago’s 2,800 intersections.
When the pedestrian presses a button, a sound alerts them when it’s time to cross. Hearing-impaired pedestrians can keep their finger on the button until it vibrates to let them know when it’s safe to cross.
U.S. District Judge LaShona Hunt’s proposed remedial order is aimed at resolving a lawsuit filed nearly five years ago by the American Council of the Blind of Metropolitan Chicago.
The lawsuit accused the city of violating Title II of the Americans for Disabilities Act by failing to equip signalized street intersections with accessible pedestrian signals.
The order mandates the city to install the devices “at a minimum of approximately 71% of signalized intersections” by Dec. 31 2035 and five additional years to hit the 100% mark.
The ramp up includes: 110 intersections by 2026, 220 intersections by 2031 and 240 intersections by 2034.
The plan further requires the city to:
• Install the devices immediately at all “newly-signalized intersections” and within 12 months at intersections where there is an “outstanding public request” to install the safety improvement.
• Complete installation by Dec. 31, 2029 at “all signalized intersections that are particularly dangerous for people with visual disabilities.” Those intersections include T-shaped intersections, mid-block pedestrian crossings, “more than three distinct streets” and other “complex geometry.”
• Prioritize signalized intersections within an eighth of a mile of public facilities including hospitals, parks, schools, libraries, police stations, major shopping areas and cultural venues.
A statement from the Chicago Department of Transportation did not put a price tag on the proposed remedial plan.
It simply said the city “full recognizes the importance of Accessible Pedestrian Signals in ensuring an accessible public way,” and installed the devices at 36 locations last year, bringing the total of “completed” intersections to 85.
Another 160 intersections are “in various stages of construction, design or procurement,” the statement said, noting that CDOT “incorporates APS signals” into all new traffic signal installations, roadway reconstruction projects and signal modernization projects.
The 2040 deadline is too slow for Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), chair of the City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety.
“My hope is the judge’s order is viewed more as a floor rather than a ceiling,” La Spata said.
“The notion that this technology exists on only 85 of 2,800 intersections — that should be embarrassing to all Chicagoans and certainly to the City Council.”
La Spata said he routinely helps some of his visually impaired neighbors cross the busy intersection at Milwaukee and Armitage. It’s “hard for me to imagine” how they would have made it across the street without help, the chairman said.
“As our populations age — as we see more and more Chicagoans with disabilities — this can’t continue to be a marginal investment. This has to be something we take seriously as a city,” La Spata said.
Polman can only hope technology improves to the point where the devices become less costly to install.
“Some people are so apprehensive, they’re afraid to cross the street,” he said.
“Some stay home. Some stay within their own communities. Some people take para-transit so they can go door-to-door. All of that has a tendency to promote isolation.”