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The Phoenix area has a huge population of senior citizens. What are we doing to accommodate them? Creating safe routes for seniors in Phoenix would enable people to age in place while also creating more walkable places for the whole community.

In order to make safe routes for seniors:

The street should be as flat as possible, with minimal convexity for drainage and a smooth transition from the curb to the street.

Large streets should have wide median refuge areas with benches. Refuges should be as large as possible and contain amenities such as plantings and shelters.

All bus stops near senior centers should have shelters and benches. Bus stops on excessively wide streets should have bus bulbs.

Drivers should be prohibited from turning during the first 10 seconds of a traffic signal phase. This time is needed by seniors to ascend the curb and begin a safe crossing unobstructed by turning vehicles.

Drivers should be required to stop 15 feet before a junction. This requires moving the stop bar back away from the crosswalk and placing a tactile surface on the stop bar. To further protect elderly pedestrians, where appropriate, the crosswalks should be built up or "raised" to line up with the curb. The addition of a raised crosswalk forces drivers to reduce their speed at the intersection.

On busy commercial streets and bus routes, all curbs should be extended into the crosswalk to create better sightlines for pedestrians and drivers.

On streets where there is more space than is needed to move traffic, the street should be put on a "road diet" where lanes or parts of lanes are reclaimed for wider sidewalks, planted medians and/or bicycle lanes.