A pedestrian scramble, also known as a 'X' Crossing (UK), diagonal crossing (US), scramble intersection (Canada), 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, including diagonally, at the same time.
It was first used in Canada and the United States in the late 1940's,[1][2] and has since then been adopted in many other cities and countries. Though it fell out of favour with traffic engineers in some countries for a while as it prioritises pedestrians higher (and thus more than cars, in some situations),[2] the understanding of the benefits in terms of pedestrian amenity and safety have led to new examples being installed in many countries in recent years.
The most famous implementation of this kind of intersection is in Shibuya, Tokyo.
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The name "Barnes Dance" commemorates the traffic engineer Henry Barnes. While he did not claim to have invented it himself, Barnes was a strong advocate of it, having observed the difficulties his daughter experienced on her way to school.[3] He first introduced it in his home city of Denver, United States in the 1940s and later brought it to Baltimore and New York.[2] In his autobiography, The Man With the Red and Green Eyes (1965), Barnes recorded that a City Hall reporter, John Buchanan, first coined the phrase by writing that "Barnes has made the people so happy they're dancing in the streets".[3]
In Adelaide there are two scrambles on either end of Rundle Mall, one on King William Street and another on Pulteney Street. In Melbourne, such a crossing exists crossing Flinders Street, at the end of Elizabeth Street, adjacent to the enty/exit from Flinders Street Station. In Sydney, the intersection of George and Druitt Streets (with one of the corner blocks being the Sydney Town Hall) is a pedestrian scramble. In Brisbane there are two noteworthy scrambles- one in the central business district at the intersection of Adelaide and Edward Streets, adjacent to the Queen Street Mall and an entrance to Translink's Central Station, and a second at the intersection of Vulture and Boundary Streets in the eclectic West End suburb.
Vancouver was one of the first cities worldwide to use the concept (at individual locations).[1] In Toronto, the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street, the location of Yonge-Dundas Square, has the city's first installed scramble intersection.\[4]
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 New Zealand, the first Barnes Dance was introduced in 1958 on Queen Street, Auckland, and was soon found in other cities as well.[3] The Queen Street crossings remain today, despite early 2000s attempts to remove them for greater car priority, and have been extended with greater numbers of phases and pedestrian green times during the late 2000s.
In London, diagonal crossings have been constructed at Balham in 2005, Oxford Circus in 2009[5] and Wood Green in 2010 [6]
Kansas City was one of the first cities that used a pedestrian scramble system (at a few individual locations only).[1]
Denver, Colorado uses the pedestrian scramble system at nearly every intersection in the downtown business district. The practice is slated to be eliminated May 14, 2011 in order to "balance" resources allotted to pedestrians, vehicles, and mass transit. Complete stops of traffic from all directions will still occur but the diagonal crossing characteristic of the Barnes dance will no longer be legal.[7]
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 Washington, DC, diagonal crossing existed at several downtown intersections until the mid-1980s. It is being tried again on an experimental basis at 7th and H streets Northwest beginning May 2010.[8]
San Diego, California has a pedestrian scramble on 5th and Market, in the middle of the busy Gaslamp Quarter.
Miami, Florida had a pedestrian scramble on SE 1st st and NE 2nd Ave removed in 2011.
San Francisco, California has several pedestrian scrambles along Stockton Street in Chinatown, Montgomery Street in the Financial District, and in several other locations.[9]
Pasadena, California has several pedestrian scrambles along Colorado Blvd. in Old Town Pasadena
Seattle, Washington uses the pedestrian scramble at 1st and Pike, 1st and University, 1st and Cherry, Beacon and 15th, and at the West Seattle Junction.
The Chinatown neighborhood of Oakland, California has decorative diagonal crossings at the intersections of 8th and 9th streets, respectively, with Franklin Street and Webster Street, respectively. These can be seen in this Google satellite view of the block bounded by the aforementioned streets.
The pedestrian scramble, since it stops all motor vehicles rather than allowing partial vehicle movements to coexist with partial pedestrian movements, has sometimes been seen as inefficient by traffic engineers, and their removal supported as creating big savings in delays and congestion. In some countries this has led to a removal of at least individual installations. However, critics have dismissed these moves as further subordinating pedestrians to cars, and who consider the shared turns of motor vehicles and pedestrians as unnecessarily intimidating.[2]
It has been noted that the pedestrian scramble only makes sense where large numbers of pedestrians are expected, and where they will also have enough space to gather on the sidewalks in larger numbers.[10] Under certain circumstances, pedestrian scrambles could in fact decrease safety, as the average waiting times for pedestrians and car drivers is increased, thus creating more likelihood of people disobeying the signals.[11]
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