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3D Crosswalk In Kansas City, Kansas, Could Have Drivers Doing Double Takes

Kansas City, Kansas, has installed a 3D sidewalk in the Piper neighborhood.
Dave Reno
/
Unified Government of Wyandotte County & Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas, has installed a 3D sidewalk in the Piper neighborhood.

There's a new crosswalk in northwest Kansas City, Kansas. If you're in the area, you'll likely slow down to take a look. And that's the point. 

The neighborhood association of Northridge at Piper Estates told the city they wanted to find a new way to make sure cars don't speed. So, City Traffic Engineer Lideana Laboy did some research, and came across 3D crosswalks in Iceland.

Laboy pitched it to the neighborhood a few months ago and they were in favor, so the city's Public Works team got to work.

The metro's first 3D crosswalk was finished late last week. Laboy said that if the test run works, she'd like to put more of them up across the city, specifically in residential neighborhoods.

"This is a creative way to attract pedestrians to the area where they should cross rather than cross anywhere else. And from the driver perspective, we want to monitor how that influences their behavior," she said.

Laboy's team plans to monitor the crosswalk over the next few months.

Andrea Tudhope is a reporter at KCUR 89.3. Email her at andreat@kcur.org, and follow her on Twitter @andreatudhope

Copyright 2021 KCUR 89.3. To see more, visit KCUR 89.3.

Andrea Tudhope is a freelance reporter for KCUR, and an associate producer for Central Standard. She covers everything from sexual assault and homicide, to domestic violence and race relations. In 2012, Andrea spent a year editing, conducting interviews and analyzing data for the Colorado Springs Gazette series "Other Than Honorable," which exposed widespread mistreatment of wounded combat veterans. The series, written by investigative reporter Dave Philipps, won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2014. Since graduating from Colorado College in 2013 with a degree in Comparative Literature and Philosophy, her work has appeared in The Huffington Post and The Colorado Independent. She is currently working on a book based on field research and interviews she conducted in Dublin, Ireland in 2012.