*This article has been updated to reflect the new date for the HAWK beacon, which is the end of February, according to WMPO officials. They initially cited the end of January.
The high-intensity activated crosswalk — or HAWK — beacon is new to Wilmington. Unlike other pedestrian lights, like the flashing yellow beacon at South Third and Ann streets, the HAWK turns yellow to red.
As an example, there’s one already coming into Wrightsville Beach.
One of the neighborhoods that has been pushing for this is Carolina Place-Ardmore, which surrounds Wallace Park. They started petitioning city council close to a decade ago after a slew of concerning accidents.
Laura Trivett has lived in her house off Market Street since 1996 — and was one of the advocates who pushed for the HAWK beacon starting in the mid to late 2010s.
“There's just multiple issues hearing about like young families trying to cross the street with a stroller and almost being hit, and it's heartbreaking. I mean, multiple people have been hurt, so I think we all just felt it was in the interest of public safety to have a safe way to navigate our neighborhood,” she said.
Funding priorities
Jonathan Jessup is another neighborhood advocate.
“Laura and I went to several meetings downtown to meet with folks. And we knew, in talking about it at the time, that it was still a toss-up whether the city would do it or not. And it was also pretty evident it would take a while,” he said.
And it did — and part of the wait was deciding the HAWK beacon was the right device, and then there was the funding piece.
The project is budgeted for $365,763. $160,000 was funded through the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization or WMPO — the City of Wilmington provided the rest. The HAWK Beacon will be part of the city’s future Downtown Trail, according to officials with the WMPO.
Another part of the project’s costs will mean that 21st will be converted into a one-way southbound from Market to Wolcott.
Trivett remembers that in her conversations with city officials around 2017, there was talk of the HAWK beacon being a part of the master plan of the Market Street Diet.
The Diet is included in the WMPO’s 2045 Cape Fear Moving Forward Plan — but it’s contingent on the funding of the Independence Boulevard extension project, which would cost $151.4 million. It’s estimated that the Market Street Road Diet phases would cost around $6.8 million.
Jessup now lives in Charlotte, where he said hawk beacons are popping up everywhere.
“This is going to be a new pair of shoes for Wilmington, so they will have to break in on how to use this device. Education is paramount,” he said.
Using the HAWK beacon, what happens when motorists don’t comply
Lieutenant Greg Willet of the Wilmington Police Department said he thinks motorists will understand how it operates because it looks similar to a regular stoplight.
“The motor vehicle is obligated by law to stop and yield the right of way to you if you are already in the crosswalk, and I think hopefully, with this hawk system the city is purchasing, that clears that up a lot,” he said.
Willet said he supports the city's investment in traffic calming and pedestrian and bike safety measures.
“As much as I can recall my whole career, we've always had more people killed in traffic-related incidents, whether it's car on car, car versus pedestrian or bicyclist, and we have more fatalities along those lines than we do violent crime,” he said.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s interactive map on pedestrian and cyclist crashes shows four major injuries from cars hitting cyclists at this intersection. They were in 2008, 2012, 2013, and 2021.
And if a driver blows through the HAWK, Willet said it would be the same violation as running a red light. He also cautions pedestrians and cyclists to use situational awareness when crossing.
“Yes, the HAWK system is great — it will be up, and it will display a red light, but it only works when people comply, and it only works when people are paying attention, and as a pedestrian, you are always going to lose a battle against a two-ton vehicle,” Willet said.
He added that many of the accidents he sees are either because of a driver’s impairment or because they’re distracted using a cell phone, which he wanted to remind the public that texting while driving is illegal.
“A lot of these fatalities are totally preventable. Yeah, a lot of fatal crashes, whether they involve a pedestrian or another vehicle, do involve some sort of impairment. And getting behind the wheel impaired is one of the most preventable things you can do,” he said.
As for other rules for the HAWK beacon, he wants to remind cyclists that they need to dismount from their bicycles and walk across.
Regarding motorists being in a hurry, he and Wilmington police officers have learned there's no point in speeding.
“Everybody's in a hurry, and truth be told, and I don't know that you can convince enough people of this, you're not getting anywhere any faster by driving fast. Trust me, in Wilmington, a traffic light will get you. Traffic congestion is going to get you. You're not going to get there any quicker,” Willet said.
Future of city transportation investments?
Jessup cited Charlotte’s Vision Zero Plan and the recent bond initiatives that voters continue to approve as to why there are so many HAWK beacons and other traffic-calming devices in Charlotte. The last time Wilminton supported a transportation bond was in 2014.
As a former resident of Wilmington and now Charlotte, he offers a perspective between the two cities.
“Charlotte is a place where people move to work; Wilmington is a place where many people move to retire, and the last thing you want to do is make your taxes get bigger when you're retired. And so that's what works against Wilmington, on the school bonds, on any other type of bond they try to put forward, is that people automatically, who are in their retirement, vote no because they want to keep their taxes low,” he said.
Trivett said she hopes a new generation will pick up her mantle in continued advocacy for neighborhood safety, specifically when it comes to monitoring how well motorists adapt to the beacon.
“I mean, I've gotten kind of cynical and burned out, and I'm hoping that the new people that are moving into the neighborhoods that are younger have the spark to keep it up because it's a long haul,” she said.
Resources
- City of Wilmington shared this YouTube video on how this HAWK beacon works
