CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Heavy traffic is nothing new to people driving on South Staples Street, especially around the area of Ray High School.
After Ray High School Principal Roxanne Cuevas brought this dangerous area up to city manager Peter Zanoni, they teamed up to find a solution.
A new midblock traffic signal and crosswalk were installed off Staples Street in between Taco Bell and Ray High School, meant to make the road safer for both pedestrians and drivers.
According to Zanoni, at least 160 students cross South Staples Street each day to get to school, and roughly 12,000 cars drive past the school during morning and afternoon rushes.
“We know that there is a crosswalk at the lights on each side but they’re too far. What the school saw was that students were cutting across mid-block, really darting across to make it to the other side of the street. So by them bringing it to our attention that helped us put it on our radar and install this on Staples Street”, said Zanoni.
The crosswalk is equipped with both audio and visual countdowns and commands and provides sensory systems for those with vision impairments to touch for guidance.
The city says this will help them reach their goal of "Vision Zero" which is to have zero deaths on our roadways by 2040.
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