Coverage - Design Problems
The Deadly 1.5-Mile Corridor That Shows the Fatal Flaw in America’s Road Design
October 19, 2026 - Wall Street JournalTDOT Rep Steve Allen: “The state can’t add more crosswalks, reduce the number of lanes, or lower the speed limit on Union Avenue, all of which would take time and money. Instead, officials plan to encourage pedestrians to use pre-existing sidewalks with measures including improving lighting and repainting the crosswalk closest to Bessan-Gligo’s job. Pedestrians think you have the right of way all the time. But that doesn’t matter if you’re not paying attention. You assume that responsibility when you’re walking out on that kind of roadway.”
How street design shapes the epidemic of preventable pedestrian fatalities (Union Ave as example)
July 12, 2022 - Smart Growth America
Opinion: Memphis’ city planning failed us — Memphis 3.0 is the vision we need
July 20, 2026 - Daily Memphian, Kelsey Huse
Relevant History & Plans
History of Union Ave
Documented by Mark Fleischer for the Central Gardens Neighborhood Association
Memphis Safety Action Plan
Signed by Mayor Paul Young, July 27, 2026. See pages 23, 26, 27, 133
Union Ave Complete Streets
Segment from Marshall to Manassas (outside Sun Studios), currently in design phase as of July 2026.
Memphis Innovation Corridor - basically defunct now?
“How will the project change Union Avenue?”The design of the Memphis Innovation Corridor project will introduce a center left turn lane on Union Avenue from Manassas Street to East Parkway and convert Union Avenue from a six lane road to a five lane road. This change is expected to improve the overall flow of traffic and improve safety in the corridor.
TDOT Strategic Highway Safety Plan 2025-2029
“The Safe Systems Approach (SSA) aims to promote a culture of safety with the expectation that all users of the roadway system, regardless of mode, will be protected and that responsibility is shared with those who plan, build, maintain, and use the transportation system.”The goal of the 2025-2029 Tennessee SHSP is to reduce fatalities and serious injuries below the historic trend by taking a proactive approach towards zero (0) deaths.
Relevant Academic Studies
Note that I haven’t reviewed all of these personally, but was sent this list regarding research on where pedestrians will cross roads.Guo, H., Zhao, F., Wang, W., Zhou, Y., Zhang, Y., & Wets, G. (2014). Modeling the perceptions and preferences of pedestrians on crossing facilities. Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, 2014, Article 949475. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/949475
Distance finding: The modeled compliance index declined particularly rapidly between 75 and 150 m of additional walking, indicating increasing preference for crossing outside designated facilities as the detour increased (§4.2, Figure 5). Wiley Online Library
Cantillo, V., Arellana, J., & Rolong, M. (2015). Modelling pedestrian crossing behaviour in urban roads: A latent variable approach. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 32, 56–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2015.04.008
Distance finding: Longer walking distances to signalized crosswalks or pedestrian bridges increased the probability of crossing directly, with a stronger effect for bridges, but the verified abstract provides no numerical distance threshold. ScienceDirect
Xie, K., Yang, H., Ishak, S., Zhai, G., & Yan, Z. (2024). Factors influencing pedestrian decisions to cross mid-block and potential countermeasures (Report No. VTRC 25-R6). Virginia Transportation Research Council. Full report
Distance finding: In one modeled example, reducing distance to the nearest crosswalk by 100 or 200 ft reduced predicted midblock crossing probability from 71% to 64% or 58%, respectively; these are site-specific predictions rather than additional-route-distance thresholds (Table 11)
Balk, S. A., Bertola, M. A., Shurbutt, J., & Do, A. (2014). Human factors assessment of pedestrian roadway crossing behavior (Report No. FHWA-HRT-13-098). Federal Highway Administration. Full report
Distance finding: Distance between marked crosswalks contributed to predicting crossing location, but the study does not establish a universal acceptable additional walking distance. FHWA-HRT-13-098
Han, S., & Chang, J. S. (2021). Identifying priority crosswalk locations in urban road networks. Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 147(2), Article 04021014. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000679
Distance finding: The study prioritizes crosswalk locations using pedestrian route costs and network connectivity, rather than establishing a numerical detour distance at which pedestrians decide to cross directly. Seoul National University
Yu, C., Ma, W., Lo, H. K., & Yang, X. (2015). Optimization of mid-block pedestrian crossing network with discrete demands. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 73, 103–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trb.2014.12.005
Distance finding: The optimization model incorporates pedestrian detour distance and signal delay as crossing costs, but does not establish an empirically observed maximum acceptable detour. ScienceDirect
García-Ramírez, Y., Arrobo-Herrera, F., Cruz-Cortez, A., Fernández-Garrido, L., Flores, J., Lara-Bayas, W., Lema-Nacipucha, C., Mejía-Caldas, D., Navas-Coque, R., Torres-Bermeo, H., & Zambrano-Delgado, K. (2026). Visual context and behavioral priming in pedestrian crossing decisions: Evidence from a stated preference experiment in Ecuadorian urban areas. Smart Cities, 9(1), Article 19. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities9010019
Distance finding: Additional walking distance had modest and often statistically nonsignificant effects on crossing choice, so this study supplies no defensible distance cutoff
Coverage - Collisions
1 injured after car crashes into Midtown Smoothie King, police say
Oct 17, 2026 - unknown, Smoothie King
3 cars, including MPD squad car, crash in Downtown Memphis
June 28, 2026 - Union Ave & Danny Thomas
Adult, 2 children hospitalized after Union Ave. crash
May 1, 2026 - Union Ave & Glenn Rogers Senior Street
Pedestrian injured after being hit by car on Union Avenue
Feb 18, 2026 - unknown, Kimbrough & Union
Central HS student on life support after being struck by car
Nov 18, 2025 - Olga Bessan, Firehouse Subs