URBANA – During the school year, there are more than 5,000 pedestrian crossings per day at the intersection of Goodwin Avenue and Illinois Street in Urbana.

Thanks to a year's worth of work at a cost of about $900,000, it's a whole lot safer now than a few years ago.

The Goodwin Avenue Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvement Project was recently given an award by the Federal Highway Administration as an "exemplary human initiative."

Jennifer Selby, civil engineer and project manager for Urbana, said the award is given as an example of a transportation project that creates or improves conditions for human activities. In the Goodwin Avenue project, the goal was to improve the safety of those walking or riding bicycles, she said.

When the city started the Goodwin Avenue project, the city hoped to develop a model for safer bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements, she said.

The project also received an award in May from the Illinois chapter of the American Publics Works Association for demonstration of pedestrian and bike safety improvements that can be applied throughout the campus.

Selby said schematics were done in 2007 and the city applied for a grant, receiving $900,000, she said. To document the problem with "significant pedestrian activity," there was a traffic count at Illinois-Goodwin that recorded nearly 5,000 crossings, mostly east-west, in a six-hour period, she said.

Goodwin Avenue improvements were made and work done by November 2009, according to Selby. Clark-Dietz designed the changes, and construction done by Cross Construction.

Improvements included:

– "Bump outs" to shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians.

– Directional ramps at all corners to guide visually impaired pedestrians and assist those in wheel chairs.

– Striping of bike lanes.

– Changes in traffic lights and street lighting.