FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana's NewsCenter) – The City of Fort Wayne’s Traffic Engineering Department is starting improvements at the intersection of Coldwater and Springbrook roads for the safety of students at Northrop High School, including school zone flashers for both directions of Coldwater Road.

The City has worked with Fort Wayne Community Schools to make the area safer near the Coldwater and Cook roads intersection by moving the crosswalk south by about 50 feet to improve visibility and take advantage of the existing median as a designated place for pedestrians.

The first change drivers and pedestrians will see are flashing signs denoting the area as a school zone with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. weekdays. Traffic Operations expects to the flashing signs to be working Tuesday morning.

The change will allow pedestrians to cross three of the six lanes of Coldwater at a time with a median in the center as a pedestrian refuge marked with delineators showing it to be a pedestrian area. The final step will be piano-key style markings on the pavement to alert drivers to the crosswalk area.

Signs reminding drivers that state law requires them to yield to pedestrians in the cross walk will also be added.

“Fort Wayne’s traffic engineering department consistently must balance the needs of local drivers with the safety of pedestrians. This project gives Northrop students and other pedestrians a safer crossing on one of Fort Wayne’s primary north-south routes,” said Mayor Tom Henry.

The improvements, including ADA-compliant ramps and extension of a sidewalk, are expected to be complete in October.

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