Park Street is a pain to cross. The only crosswalks are downtown, by the traffic lights and by Town and Country, so you have to jay walk to get to Radio Shack or Ace Hardware unless you want to walk across town to cross the road. The lack of crosswalks makes the road more dangerous to cross than it needs to be. 

People end up having to stand and wait for an opening in traffic. Pedestrians just don’t have enough clear places to cross the road. There should be more crosswalks so there is a clear indication to drivers that people are going to be crossing the road. According to the CDC a lack of a clear separation of spaces for cars and pedestrians has been shown to greatly increase pedestrian deaths.

 Of the 7,000 pedestrian deaths in 2020 in the United States roughly 4,000 of them were on arterial roads like Park Street. Crosswalks should be added on 10^th street and at Marks. A crosswalk at 10^th street would help people get to the strip mall more easily, one at marks would make it safer to get across the street to the picnic tables. It would still take a while to get across the road because of the high traffic but it would be easier than it is now.

 Crossing signs should also be installed so drivers are aware that pedestrians are going to cross. Crosswalks would make the road safer and would help drivers be more aware of people crossing the road. Clearer spaces for cars and pedestrians have been proven to decrease pedestrian fatalities. It would still be dangerous to cross Park Street but a crosswalk would at least make drivers more aware of people crossing the road.

 Towns need to take the safety of more than just motorists into account when designing their roads; the lack of crosswalks shows a lack of consideration for pedestrians and cyclists and it should be corrected.