Sharraxaadda
The signal indicating it is safe for people to cross River Street is about 15 seconds. This is plenty of time to cross except that the light turns green for the people coming off of Congress and making a left on to the bridge at the same time the signal indicates walkers they can cross. The cars frequently do not yield to the people in the cross walk, creating a dangerous cross walk spot for walkers. Is it possible to have the Congress light stay red for about 15 seconds when the cross signal indicates walkers to cross?
1 Faallada
Alex Dupuy (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Rather than make the pedestrian and turning vehicle cycles completely separate, another possibility would be to add a "leading pedestrian interval" or LPI (see first entry in http://streetswiki.wikispaces.com/search/view/Leading+Pedestrian).
These are typically about 5 seconds, and give the pedestrians a chance to get out in middle of the crosswalk where turning drivers are much more likely to yield. LPIs are more commonly used in large cities where the number of pedestrians is higher, and it might be more dangerous to have an LPI here (I am not a traffic engineer) but it may be a more acceptable alternative.
My biggest gripe is that the pedestrian crossing signals on all the new crosswalks installed downtown with the ARRA money turn red for pedestrians 10-15 seconds before the light for cars turns yellow (let alone red). This vastly reduced crossing time for pedestrians makes the lights effectively useless for pedestrians (although I do find them useful when driving, as a good indicator of a "stale green").
I keep meaning to actually go out and time the cycles at a few major intersections (2nd & Congress, 3rd & Broadway, 4th & Ferry) so that I can put hard numbers on this absurd state of affairs. Hasn't happened yet, though.