JONAH LAGRANGE/THE CREIGHTONIAN
The audible walk signal at Creighton’s 24th Street crosswalk has become a familiar campus sound, helping pedestrians with visual impairments navigate the intersection while serving as a nostalgic symbol of the Creighton community.
“The walk signal to cross 24th Street is now on” plays on repeat on Creighton’s campus and is well known by the Creighton community. The woman’s voice in the speaker box makes her statement three times, cut off on her third repetition of the phrase.
The audible walk signal for the crosswalk on 24th Street was installed in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. Memories and construction have altered it since.
“It [the walk signal] doesn’t prevent other people from assisting [those with disabilities]. I want people to know that they can help others, and people here are so helpful. But the crosswalk is all about safety and care to me,” Associate Director of the Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality, Fr. Larry Gillick, said.
Fr. Gillick is one of the visually-impaired members of the Creighton community who are guided by the crosswalk’s voice. He was at Creighton when the crosswalk changed to add the voice box, but he was not the only reason it was added.
“For Creighton to get federal aid, they had to conform to those with disabilities. There was a man who came around from the federal government, and he interviewed me about what has to be done here for people with disabilities,” Fr. Gillick said.
The lights originally were visual and either red or green as a signal for people to cross, which wasn’t helpful for the visually impaired. Hence, the voice box was added. However, in 2020, due to the reconstruction of the 24th Street crosswalk, the voice box was removed.
According to a 2020 Creighton Alumni article, “The safety of the crosswalk is much improved … vehicle lane reduction, separate bike lanes, dedicated bus pullouts, new pedestrian/vehicle lane markers, as well as the elimination of the vehicle drop-off in Deglman Square. The roundabout to the south, meanwhile, will slow traffic.”
During construction time, students and staff didn’t have to worry about traffic while crossing 24th Street. When the construction concluded, the beloved voice box was replaced with a beeping sound, which only lasted about a month before the voice returned.
“I was here when we envisioned, designed and reconstructed 24th Street, and I acutely remember the interest in the voice box. After much searching, our signals contractor located it in their lot where it was awaiting the recycling process. We were fortunate to locate it and save it for adaptation into the new crosswalk sequencing,” Vice President of Facilities Management, Derek Scott, said in an email.
Scott was originally unsure if replacing the voice would be up to codes and guidelines, but after the Creighton community expressed their disapproval of the beep, the “walk signal to cross 24th Street is now on” was reinstalled with the completion of the 24th Street Enhancement Project.
“I played it [a recording of the signal] at the beginning of a homily at graduation one year, because walking across is an image. You’re leaving campus, and I said, ‘Today is your day; you’re going to be crossing 24th Street for the last time,’” Fr. Gillick said.
Following all of the renovations of the crosswalk, the voice has remained a notable and nostalgic symbol on campus for the last 36 years. T-shirts that read, “The walk signal to cross 24th Street is now on” were once made by Creighton for a fundraiser that raised more than $13,000 for Creighton scholarships.