COVID-19 has made Minneapolis rethink its approach to crosswalk buttons, but St. Paul isn’t there yet.

Interim St. Paul Public Works Director Paul Kurtz told the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday that Minneapolis and “a few cities, and I stress, a few” have decided to reprogram their traffic signals so the walk light comes on automatically as the lights cycle through — no button pushing required.

The goal is to reduce germ-sharing in light of the coronavirus pandemic, said Kurtz, who sought general guidance from the council on whether he should follow the same lead.

Council members said they had other priorities.

“This seems like an awful lot of work, and I know that in the spring time Public Works has a very long to-do list,” said Council President Amy Brendmoen. “I’m wondering if it’s the best way to use our resources, especially considering the significantly diminished amount of traffic on our streets these days.”

Council Member Rebecca Noecker said she would prefer Public Works use its limited resources to fill potholes.

“I know that there are plenty of potholes in Ward 1 that need attention,” said Council Member Dai Thao, echoing the sentiment.

Kurtz acknowledged another down side: emergency vehicles would be more likely to encounter red lights.

Kurtz said St. Paul has 388 traffic signals, of which about 285 have buttons that pedestrians currently push to ask for a walk signal.

He said the department would not recommend making changes at 35 intersections, due to the impact to traffic flow and public transit operations.

For the other 250 signals, reprogramming them for “pedestrian recall mode” would take about three days, with most — but not all — of the work done from a central location. In some cases, manual changes would be required by opening controller cabinets at the intersections.

Notifying pedestrians they don’t have to press the walk button would also require 1,000 to 1,200 laminated signs on traffic signal posts, which would take a week or more to install.

Kurtz told the council, however, “at this point, we probably won’t move forward with it.”