SOUTH SALT LAKE -- James Knowlden says it doesn't really bother him to stand in the crosswalk at 2820 S. State where his son Robbie died two years ago. He says it doesn't.
But then his eyes give him away."This has really affected me," said Knowlden, blinking back tears. " I cry a lot. I can't concentrate. Before, I would work for somebody three or four years at at time. Since Robbie died, I've had five different employers. I just can't really focus the way I used to."
Robbie Knowlden, 11, and Shay Young, 14, were hit by a southbound motorist while using the crosswalk Sept. 26, 1997. Young died at the scene. Robbie Knowlden died two weeks later in a hospital bed.
Sunday night the Knowlden family will gather with friends and family for a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the two children and the accident that took their lives. The vigil, which will be held in the median at 2820 S. State from 7:30 to 9 p.m., is in part to keep the memory of Robbie and Shay alive, James Knowlden said. It's also a reminder about pedestrian safety.
"All of us are pedestrians at one time or another," James Knowlden said. Since the accident, James Knowlden and his wife, Bambi, have talked repeatedly -- to anyone who would listen -- about increasing safety at 2820 S. State. They met with state and local officials, lobbying hard for a pedestrian overpass that children and adults could use to pass over traffic, away from harm. They talked to stranger after stranger and neighbor after neighbor collecting signatures on a petition for the overpass.
"It's been hard on me, because I've needed time to grieve, but something needed to be done," James Knowlden said. "My hope has been that other children will live and other families won't have to go what we've been through."
What has come of that work is this: In the spring, the Utah Department of Transportation will bid and then build a pedestrian-activated traffic signal, not an overpass.
The nearly $1 million price tag for an overpass is prohibitive, UDOT spokeswoman Melanie Buck said. These kinds of street improvements require a partnership between state and local government. The state pays 80 percent and the locals 20 percent.
South Salt Lake just doesn't have that a kind of money, Mayor Randy Fitts said. The city would also have to buy private property on either side of State Street to have sufficient space for the overpass ramps. Business owners aren't interested.
"We thought the estimate would come in under a million dollars and thought we had the cooperation of businesses in the area in building it . . . but no one is willing to work with us," Fitts said. "The city has gone so far as to look at closing two streets, Sunset Avenue, on either side of State, and putting the new walkway there, but it's not physically feasible."
South Salt Lake has some money set aside for improvements. That money will now go toward the estimated $200,000 it will cost to build the traffic signal, said Fitts, who called the signal "the second best thing to do."
The Knowldens have mixed feelings about the decision.
"What we wanted was the skywalk. I don't feel like (the signal) is quite enough," James Knowlden said. "People would be safer if they never had a chance to draw contact from traffic. But I guess it depends on how they build it."
The state's plan includes an enhanced median with a second trigger button to give pedestrians a refuge from traffic in the middle of the six lanes of traffic and to give them an additional opportunity to stop traffic and get across safely, Buck said. The signal should be fully operational by summer of 2000.
The deaths of Robbie and Shay have sparked a movement toward better road safety for drivers and pedestrians on State Street and throughout the valley, which was much needed because of increased city traffic caused by I-15 construction. Communities up and down the corridor were reporting an increase of as much as 400 percent in accidents.
Police departments and radio stations launched a variety of public service announcements and safety campaigns. South Salt Lake Police founded a Safety School for kids named in Robbie Knowlden's honor. Gov. Mike Leavitt called for a task force to study safety and create a safety campaign for drivers and pedestrians.
It was also then that UDOT created its formula to evaluate crosswalk and intersection safety based on traffic volumes of cars and pedestrians, proximity to schools, speed limits, road size and signage characteristics.
Based on the numbers, UDOT then ranked the crossing from 1 to 10 for the danger risk. The crosswalk where Robbie and Shay were killed was rated the most dangerous. James Knowlden says he could have told officials that even without any complicated math equations.
A skywalk has since been built at 3100 South and Bangerter Highway in West Valley City and another is planned for 12600 South and Bangerter in Riverton.
"There have been a lot of near misses," James Knowlden said. "As a pedestrian, you're supposed to have the right of way, but I don't believe that's true in Utah."
Robbie Knowlden was well aware that crossing State Street was dangerous. He used the walkway, about three blocks from the Knowldens' front door, every day on his way to and from Woodrow Wilson Elementary School. Usually, his younger sister, Stephanie, who with her bright red hair and full cheeks is nearly her brother's twin, was by his side. When Robbie and Shay were hit that evening, Robbie was actually helping Shay and another little girl get across the street stiffly, Bambi Knowlden said.
The third child was first across the street and made it safely to the median. Next came Shay and bike and then Robbie.
"The ironic thing is that same day that Robbie was killed he was in a TV news report about safety issues. They showed him on the news crossing that street, " Bambi Knowlden said. "Then three and a half hours later, he died in that same crosswalk."
James Knowlden says he would have gladly traded places with his
ay Robbie had been hurt, he rushed to find his Robbie sprawled in the road up against the median.
"I laid down right next to him and tried to talk to him, but he was crying. That cry haunts me. It's the hardest thing I've ever gone through," James Knowlden said. "He got cheated out of his life. But if he can't be here, then I'm going to keep working to make sure it doesn't happen to someone else. It's a promise I made to my son in the hospital. He might have been in a coma when I told him, but I think he understood."