Monterey installs the county’s first touchless pedestrian buttons on a busy Fremont Street corridor.

Hesitating to touch shared surfaces in public places has become common during the Covid-19 pandemic, and people have gotten creative to avoid touching them. Consider pedestrian crosswalk buttons: From wearing gloves to covering their hands with clothing, or using an elbow or kicking the button to keep their hands clean, pedestrians have found ways to keep their hands clean. 

Enter touchless pedestrian buttons.

“The touchless button technology was not available before Covid-19,” says Andrea Renny, a traffic engineer for the city of Monetrey. Renny says a couple of manufacturers contacted the city once the pandemic started.   

Touchless pedestrian buttons have now been installed at the four four-way intersections on North Fremont Street in Monterey. The new technology is meant to benefit people with disabilities and it also aims to decrease pedestrians’ exposure to high-touch surfaces during the pandemic. 

Renny says the installation of touchless buttons wasn't just about Covid-19;  "We needed this type of pedestrian signal actuation for individuals who have mobility limitations."

These toucheless pedestrian buttons are the first of their kind to be installed in Monterey County, and were funded by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s Regional Surface Transportation grant funds.  

Polara is the manufacturer of these buttons, which cost $450 each. “They cost less to install on North Fremont because we already had all of the hardware,” Renny says. “For these intersections what we had to do was swap out the button unit for the new button.” 

They are pretty easy to use. All it takes is a wave of a hand to request a pedestrian crossing signal. The motion can be detected from two to four inches away.

“The new touchless pedestrian push buttons are one of many improvements the city has invested in to enhance mobility in the North Fremont Business District corridor,” Renny said in a statement announcing the installation.

In addition to that, people can download the application called PEDAPP and activate the walking request from their phones. The app will identify and locate a crossing point providing additional help to visually impaired individuals. 

The new buttons were installed at the intersections of Fremont with Casa Verde, Dela Vina Avenue or Airport Avenue, Ramona Avenue and Casanova Avenue. City officials are treating this as a pilot, and is successful, they could be installed at other crosswalks with a high volume of foot traffic. “We want to run a test period to see how they operate and the reliability,” Renny says.