View State Fairgrounds / Carter-Finley Stadium in a larger map

For tens of thousands of people who walk across Trinity Road in West Raleigh when the Wolfpack is playing football or the N.C. State Fair is in session, maybe it's time to build a tunnel.

NCDOT will air the idea and seek public comment at a public information session Monday.  It takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Murphy Football Center at Carter-Finley Stadium. Details are attached below.

During busy times at the State Fair in October, a few thousand pedestrians walk across Trinity Road in a single hour.  After the UNC-NCSU football game last November, there were 4,000 in 30 minutes.

Documents:

Sure, it's the automobile driver's responsibility to watch out for people walking across the street.  But pedestrians bear part of the safety burden, too.

NCDOT says distracted walking is a safety hazard, just as distracted driving is. Pedestrians should stay off their mobile phones, unplug their mobile music, and pay more attention to traffic.

I'm reporting on this today.  If you've had experience with reckless pedestrians who nearly got whacked while they yacked on the phone -- or if you want to confess your own lapses in pedestrian safety -- I'd like to hear from you by phone (919-829-4527) or email.  Don't forget to include your name and daytime phone number.

Triangle-area planners have won nearly $100,000 in grants from the state Department of Transportation to promote walking and bicyling in their communities.

Holly Springs will use a $28,000 grant to develop a plan for providing bike facilities and encouraging cycling in the town. Raleigh will use a $47,500 grant and Creedmoor will use a $24,000 grant to develop pedestrian plans.

The three communities were among 12 cities and towns that received $327,100 in planning grants from the state Department of Transportation.

A new study rates the Raleigh-Cary area the sixth most dangerous metro area in the nation for pedestrians.

Forty-three pedestrians died in traffic accidents here in 2007 and 2008, a rate of 2.02 pedestrian deaths for every 100,000 residents, according to a report released today by Transportation for America, a coalition of more than 300 national groups that lobbies for transportation improvements.

In a suburban area where only 1.6 percent of local residents walk to work, that high death rate gives Raleigh-Cary a Pedestrian Danger Index of 128.6, according to the Transportation for America report.

The danger list, which ranked the nation’s 50 largest metro areas, was dominated by fast-growing suburban regions where fewer than 2 percent of workers commute on foot.

The Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord area, also with 43 pedestrian deaths in 2007-08, ranked 12th on the danger list. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord had 1.29 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents, in an area where only 1.2 percent of workers walking to work.

Some Road Worrier leftovers (see today's column, with reader comments, about drivers who make school crosswalks unsafe):

CROSSWALK SAFETY TIPS

Pedestrians:

Always use marked crosswalks.
Obey pedestrian signals. Look left-right-left.
Make eye contact with the driver.
Look before walking past stopped cars, to make sure other lanes are clear.

Drivers:

Observe school zone speed limits, and watch for pedestrians and cyclists.
Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and at corners.
Come to a complete stop if pedestrians are preparing to cross, and wait until they finish crossing.
Never pass another car that is slowing or stopped at a crosswalk.

Learn more at hsrc.unc.edu.

View Durham Freeway Pedestrian Bridge in a larger map

Third-shift commuters and other late-night denizens of the Durham Freeway, take note: a demolition project will shut down the freeway in both directions at night between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.

It starts Tuesday, May 26 (weather permitting), and the demolition of the abandoned Alston Avenue pedestrian bridge will take about two weeks..

Click this map for the detour route. It uses the Alston and Briggs avenue exits, connected by Pettigrew.

Here are details about Durham's plan to replace the rusted, abandoned, ugly old bridge with a pretty new one that will glow blue at night.

And here's the city announcement about construction and traffic plans.

Tim Sutton of Benson was not surprised to read that pedestrian death counts are on the upswing this year.

Sutton's job involves locating buried cables. He spends a lot of time walking along and across Triangle roadways.

Even with his bright orange vest, he gets less respect from drivers than your average gaggle of Canada geese. . . .