The City of Hastings strives to promote and preserve the safety of all its residents and visitors, and this overarching goal extends to the ground level when it comes to pedestrian safety.  Although the City has a strong pedestrian safety record, with zero fatalities, and an average of less than three pedestrian-vehicle crashes/year along more than 105 miles of City streets since 2006, we are still exploring how we can improve this record. 

Some ways we are moving forward towards archiving this important goal is through the following steps:

• Adoption of a City Policy on the Installation of Pedestrian Crosswalks for local streets.
• Trying pilot programs to see what other strategies and tools may be effective.
• Enhanced enforcement activities in key areas of the City.
• Outreach and education to both pedestrians and motorists.
• By engaging with our partners at Dakota County and MnDOT on pedestrian safety concerns at crossings of County and State Highways. 

Inducing positive outcomes requires the right solution at the right location, using enhancements sparingly and in their most promising and effective contexts to preserve their broader-scale significance and impact.  In some cases, this means that no enhancements are warranted (i.e. low volume neighborhood streets), as any warning traffic control device is less likely to work effectively if they are overused or placed at locations with low demand for pedestrian activity.

Below are resources and additional information on pilot programs the City is implementing.

Policy on the Installation of Pedestrian Crosswalks - adopted by City Council 6/19/2017
Pedestrian Flag Pilot Program - 2018