Dialight announced that the city of Spokane, Washington has completed the installation of 132 of the company’s ITE-compliant LED pedestrian countdown timers to improve crosswalk safety and comply with the latest requirements in the U.S. Dept. of Transportation Federal Highways Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

To complete the project, the city took advantage of a $100,000 Federal Highways Safety Grant to pay for the signals and the installation along Third Avenue from Division to Maple Streets, and at Second and Fourth Avenues on Maple and Walnut Streets.

"The timers will effectively improve pedestrian safety along this corridor, which was identified for the upgrade based on historical data on pedestrian and vehicle collisions from the State Department of Transportation,” said Katherine Miller, capital program manager for the city of Spokane. “The new signals are highly visible, and we were quite pleased with Dialight’s quick delivery of the product and ease of installation.”

The December 2009 revised MUTCD released by the Federal Highway Administration requires the use of countdown pedestrian signals at all new installations with a pedestrian clearance interval of =7 seconds. While the MUTCD did not require the retrofit of existing pedestrian signals, it does require the conversion to countdown pedestrian signals on the next scheduled replacement of the signal. To achieve early compliance, the city took advantage of the opportunity to use stimulus funds to improve intersection safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.

"Dialight’s maintenance-free LED timers are extremely durable and reliable to provide years of safety and service, even in harsh conditions,” said Mike Smith, president of Advanced Traffic Products, the authorized distributor of Dialight signals who worked on the Spokane installation. “The signals not only improve safety for residents, but also contribute to the city’s ongoing downtown renewal efforts.”