Pedestrian scramble

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A Barnes Dance in Tokyo.

A Barnes Dance in Cologne, Germany.

Typical signage for a Barnes Dance in the United States

Pedestrian scramble, also known as the Barnes Dance or exclusive pedestrian phase, is a pedestrian crossing system that stops all traffic and allows pedestrians to cross intersections in every direction at the same time. The Barnes Dance was first used in Kansas City and Vancouver in the late 1940s. Subsequently it was adopted in other cities such as Denver, Baltimore, New York, Montreal, Beverly Hills, and the famous Shibuya crossing in Tokyo.

Although named after Henry Barnes, the system was not invented by him. Barnes, however, 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.

In Japan, where over 300 such intersections exist, it is known as a scramble crossing (スクランブル交差点, sukuranburu-kōsaten^?).

In many cities in the Netherlands a similar system is used to allow cyclists to cross busy intersections.

Because it requires that traffic in all directions be stopped, the exclusive pedestrian phase creates lost time and reduces an intersection's vehicular capacity. For that reason, along with difficulty in ensuring the intersection is free of pedestrians at the end of the scramble time, some traffic engineering textbooks discourage the Barnes Dance except in low-volume rural and suburban intersections where there may be a safety benefit. ^[1]

1 Locations
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Locations

Hachiko Square, in Shibuya, Tokyo, has a famous pedestrian scramble at an intersection of seven streets (some pedestrian-only) in front of Shibuya Station.
In the United States, the city of Beverly Hills is famous for being the first California city to implement diagonal crossing (at some intersections on Rodeo Drive). Pasadena also has pedestrian scrambles in its Old Pasadena shopping and nightlife district, as do certain intersections in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. Many intersections in the Boston area have dedicated, all-way pedestrian phases, but usually do not have the diagonal crosswalk of a scramble.
In Pittsburgh, there are intersections near a school for the blind which has a pedestrian scramble that also includes audio signals.
In Trondheim, Norway, nearly all the traffic lights in the centre of the city are pedestrian scrambles.
The main intersection in downtown Jerusalem, Israel was reinstated as a pedestrian scramble after public protest.
In Sackville, New Brunswick, the town's only downtown traffic signal is a lopsided Barnes dance with audible signals.
In Melbourne, the intersection at Elizabeth St & Flinders St outside Flinders Street station is a Barnes Dance.
In Sydney, pedestrian scrambles are commonly used in the CBD, such as the intersections of Park and George Streets, as well as Druitt St & Pitt St.
In Taipei,Taiwan,R.O.C., only few pedestrian scrambles are located in the downtown area like the one in Xinyi District which in near Taipei101
They are also in common use throughout New Zealand, particularly in the central business districts of major cities such as Auckland and Christchurch. However, many suburban pedestrian scrambles were removed in the 1990s.