An X crossing (aka pedestrian scramble or diagonal crossing) will come into use tomorrow at the junction of Rua Nova da Areia Preta (黑沙環新街) and Rua do Canal Novo (涌河新街) in Areia Preta district, the Transport Bureau (DSAT) announced in a statement yesterday.
The new pedestrian scramble at the junction, where the four residential estates of Kin Wa Building (建華大廈), U Wa Building (裕華大廈), Hoi Pan Garden (海濱花園) and Kam Hoi San Garden (金海山花園) are located, will be Macau’s sixth of its kind.
The statement said that the government has decided to set up a pedestrian scramble at the junction, which is situated in one of the city’s most densely populated neighbourhoods, after assessing its traffic situation and vehicular flows.
Currently, the traffic light-controlled crossings at the junction are traditional straight crossings.
The statement said that the new diagonal crossing at the junction will come into use once the respective road markings have been painted tomorrow morning.
According to Wikipedia, a pedestrian scramble is a type of traffic signal movement that temporarily stops all vehicular traffic, thereby allowing pedestrians to cross a junction in every direction, including diagonally, at the same time.
The city’s first diagonal crossing came into use in November 2021 at the junction of Rua da Serenidade (永定街) and Rua da Tribuna (看台街), a neighbourhood near the Barrier Gate border checkpoint.
Macau’s second X crossing came into use in May last year at the junction of the busy Avenida do Coronel Mesquita (美副將大馬路) and Rua de São João Bosco (鮑思高街), i.e., outside Dom Bosco (Yuet Wah) College (鮑思高粵華小學). The junction is used by a large number of schoolchildren.
The city’s third pedestrian scramble came into use in November last year at the junction of the busy Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida (荷蘭園大馬路) and Estrada de Adolfo Loureiro (羅利老馬路), i.e., the junction near Lou Lim Ieoc Garden.
Macau’s fourth X crossing came into operation in February this year at the junction of the busy Avenida do Almirante Lacerda (提督馬路) and Estrada do Repouso (鏡湖馬路).
The fifth one came into use last month at the junction of Rua da Serenidade (永定街) and Rua Oito do Bairro Iao Hon (祐漢新村第八街), which is located just a stone’s throw from the first one.
The statement underlined that compared to traditional straight crossings, diagonal crossings enable pedestrians to cross the respective junctions in a shorter time, and provide extra space for them to cross.
The statement also said that the operations of the current five pedestrian scrambles have achieved “satisfactory” results since they started operating.
While globally pedestrian scrambles are used in a number of countries and regions, they are particularly common in major cities in Japan.
This diagram released by the Transport Bureau (DSAT) yesterday shows the new X crossing at the junction of Rua Nova da Areia Preta and Rua do Canal Novo where the four residential estates (green) of Kin Wa Building, U Wa Building, Hoi Pan Garden and Kam Hoi San Garden are situated.
