A traffic experiment designed to protect pedestrians on St. Paul’s East Side is entering a crucial stage.

Starting Monday, traffic engineers and planners will begin poring over traffic data, crash reports and upward of 1,500 responses from the public regarding a stretch of Maryland Avenue that has undergone a closely watched effort to balance pedestrian and bicycle safety with the demands of motorists on a street that is both a commuting artery and the lifeblood of a neighborhood.

In June, the four-lane road was narrowed between Payne Avenue and Johnson Parkway — via road paint, pylons and curbs — to one traffic lane each way with a center turn lane. High-visibility orange and yellow signs announce the project and note several pedestrian crossings.

In two spots, crews built “pedestrian refuges,” center-lane areas protected by curbs and pylons where pedestrians can pause in relative safety halfway across the street.

Depending on whom you ask, the project has either:

Utterly clogged the street for drivers, creating long rush-hour backups on Maryland itself — particularly behind Metro Transit buses — and making left turns virtually impossible amid a steady stream of evenly spaced 25-mph vehicles. Or, tamped down aggressive driving to create a low-stress, even pleasant, thoroughfare.

Made crossing the street safe and simple for the first time in years, not only because of the lane reduction but because of an increased awareness by drivers, who don’t mind stopping when they’re already traveling more slowly. Or, made everyone else keep a foot on the brake in an overcompensation for anti-car activists.

Created no ill effects. Or, forced impatient or confused drivers to speed down narrow side streets to avoid backups, creating a new potential safety hazard.

It’s not clear where the truth lies because data are still being organized. According to St. Paul police data, there have been no vehicle collisions with pedestrians or bicyclists along the affected stretch since the project began, while there were two last year during the same time period.

The period to comment on the Ramsey County-led project — via e-mail, a survey and an interactive map — ends Saturday.

PEDESTRIANS KILLED

State law requires motorists to stop for pedestrians, even at unmarked crosswalks, but on busy four-lane roads like Maryland Avenue and Rice Street, the reality is that crossing the street is no easy stroll.

The Maryland Avenue experiment comes as police, elected officials and activists have elevated calls for pedestrian safety citywide in a “Stop for Me” campaign that combined pedestrian awareness and traffic enforcement campaigns.

As the six-week experiment ends, county officials will decide whether to extend it, in part or whole, modify it or end it.

The county, which controls the stretch of Maryland, embarked on the experiment after calls for change, underscored by the May 2016 death of Erin Durham. The 34-year-old had dropped her two children off at a bus stop and was crossing Maryland at Greenbrier Street when she was struck and killed by a driver. A memorial still marks the intersection, which has one of the two pedestrian refuges.

That refuge has been a game-changer for Eric Saathoff, a supporter of the new configuration who lives in the area and serves on the Payne-Phalen Community Council. Saathoff recently took a series of videos showing how treacherous crossing Maryland is with four lanes of traffic, and how relatively easy it is with only two.

He said he understands complaints from drivers — there’s little question it takes longer to drive Maryland during certain times of day. But he said such inconvenience should be taken in context.

“The safety improvements for both drivers and pedestrians is worth the diminishing convenience for drivers,” Saathoff said. “It may take a minute or two longer to get to Earl Street for a light (to turn left onto Maryland), or an extra three to four minutes to get to (Interstate) 35E. But think of how much longer it takes someone to walk two blocks to find a light to cross safely — and then the two blocks back. What if it’s the winter, or that person is in a wheelchair?”

Others see new inconveniences.

Along the 1100 block of Hawthorne Avenue, just north of Maryland, a number of residents say they’ve noted an increase in apparently confused drivers finding themselves on a dead-end spur of Hawthorne, creating a parade of cars forced to make three-point turns in an area where children play.

Deborah Carter McCoy, a spokeswoman for Ramsey County, said it wasn’t clear yet whether such perceptions are in the majority or minority of local residents. She said officials plan to give extra weight to comments by local residents as they make sense of the roughly 1,500 comments they’ve received.

“The people who live there are the ones who have to live with it,” Carter McCoy said.

At least one community meeting will be held before the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners makes a final decision.