Boston shows off ingenious road crossing system during marathon
When a massive event, like a parade or marathon takes over your city, navigating the streets can prove to be tricky – but not impossible.
Video of pedestrians crossing the street during the Boston Marathon shows that with coordination and patience, crossing the road during an event that attracts about 30,000 participants can be done.
Overhead footage from the race shows a crowd of people standing in a taped off square (not unlike the ones cat owners are known to make for their felines) in the middle of the road, as runners breeze past on one side. A coordinator at the top of the square holds a sign with an arrow, pointing the side of the road that the marathoners should be on. Another person further up with the same arrow sign flips it to point in the other direction, making the runners moves to the other side of the road.
While that happens, the boxed-in crowd is directed to the other side of the street, as a fenced off area along the sidelines is opened up for them to walk through. After a few seconds, a new crowd from the same side walks into the street and makes their way into the taped-in square. They wait patiently as runners zip by.
The people holding the arrows soon flip the signs over to direct runners onto the other lane of the road, while the crowd in the box is escorted across to the opposite side.
