Newly installed ladderlike crosswalks that popped up this summer are part of the city's first pedestrian plan, a long-term safety effort that officially went into effect Wednesday.



The Chicago Department of Transportation's pedestrian plan has more than 250 recommendations for long-term and short-term improvements, some of which were installed during this year's road construction season.



The priorities, as defined by CDOT with input from the public, include improving safety for children and seniors around schools and parks, improving access to transit, safer crossings at intersections and increasing space for pedestrians.



The hundreds of recommendations include better-marked crosswalks, the establishment of pedestrian islands in the middle of multilane streets, better signals and beacons, and pedestrian countdown timers at crossings. Other long-term improvements discussed in the plan include staggered midblock bump-outs on residential streets to slow traffic.



Continental-style crosswalks were among the first changes, CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein said, largely because the department began to weave in the new pedestrian plan in time for already-scheduled construction projects.



The crosswalks have big rungs across the walkway for higher visibility and are made of a reflective material, Klein said. More than 100 such crosswalks were installed in 2012, Klein said.



Pavement markings — on crosswalks and stop lines for vehicles — are faded across Chicago, and Klein said millions would be spent this year repainting such markings so they are visible to drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.



"Our goal is to bake these new standards into everything that's being done in public right of way," he said.



The plan also establishes what the agency's announced "Zero in Ten" goal: reducing pedestrian fatalities in Chicago to zero in the next 10 years.



Klein said some of the goals are "visionary stretch goals," but said the city plans to implement all of them eventually.



"We want pedestrian safety to be at the forefront of everything we do," Klein said. "Everyone in the city is a pedestrian."



Klein said the initial planning process began as a look at pedestrian safety but grew into something much larger.



"The plan evolved when we met with the public and heard what they had to say," Klein said. "It became very much about safety, connectivity to people's jobs and bettering the livability of our city."



Seven public neighborhood meetings were held across the city from June to August 2011, Klein said.



CDOT received more than 500 suggestions via meetings and comment cards and on its website, spokesman Pete Scales said. The plan will be used as a guide for construction projects down the line, Scales said.



"The plan lays out the agenda, tools and programs that will help (CDOT) achieve the goal of becoming a safer pedestrian city," he said.



Though crosswalks may make people feel safe, the Tribune reported last year that a study revealed about 80 percent of vehicle-pedestrian crashes in Chicago occur at intersections. These crashes were shown to commonly involve people crossing the street with the walk signal.



There were 17,487 vehicle-pedestrian crashes in Chicago from 2005 to 2009, with about 16 percent resulting in serious injury or fatality. The city also identified 12 high-crash corridors in Chicago neighborhoods.



Klein said CDOT is also planning to meet with the Chicago Police Department every two weeks to look at connections between accidents and traditional crime.



"We wanted to make this a plan with implementable steps — the plan is only as good as what we do with it," Klein said.



To view the plan, go tocityofchicago.org/transportation.



Tribune reporter Jon Hilkevitch contributed.



bdoyle@tribune.com