The Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) is hosting a free webinar to present findings from a Master’s thesis that evaluated the safety impacts of Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs) and curb extensions using detailed conflict data collected at signalized intersections in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area.

LPIs and curb extensions are widely used street design strategies intended to improve pedestrian safety at signalized intersections. However, despite their well-documented crash reduction record, fewer studies have examined how these treatments influence near-miss interactions or how changes like curb extensions interact with signal timing strategies.

Results show that LPIs are consistently associated with lower pedestrian–vehicle conflict frequency, while intersections with both LPIs and curb extensions generally exhibited lower proportions of high-severity conflicts. The presentation will discuss the methodology, key findings, and practical implications for agencies considering pedestrian safety treatments.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how surrogate safety measures can be used to evaluate pedestrian safety
• Learn how LPIs influence pedestrian–vehicle conflict frequency
• Explore how curb extensions may complement LPIs
• Recognize how intersection context and design features affect treatment effectiveness

Presenters:

• Sophia Semensky, Engineer/Planner, Kittelson & Associates
• Sirisha Kothuri, Senior Research Associate, Portland State University

Register to Attend