The traffic count is be relayed to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to see if the town qualifies for a stopight at Widewaters and Knightdale Boulevard, said Steve Johnson, division traffic engineer for N.C. DOT.

“Normally all requests for any kind of crossing for pedestrians comes from the municipalities,” he said. “And we don’t put them in there without having some knowledge of the use. We don’t just put them in indiscriminately. There’s a cost for everything and every time you do something like that you have to make sure there is a need for it.”

The town has had numerous requests from residents asking for a signalized crossing.

“We have asked for a crosswalk many times,” said Lois Burch, a past president of the Planter’s Walk Community Watch. “Most of the community activities are on the north side of Knightdale Boulevard and most of the homes are on the south side.”

That’s why Knightdale code enforcement officer Ken Tyndall parked in a city vehicle last Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. along Knightdale Boulevard.

But Burch said she and some of her neighbors were concerned that the town wouldn’t get an accurate count because of the time period in which the town was counting people.

Burch said many people who cross the road were still at work, and that children who ride across the boulevard on their bicycles were still in school during those times.

“They’re not going to get an accurate count,” she said.

Johnson declined to say how many people had to cross the street in order for it to qualify for a crosswalk. But he said the town could count at different times if it determined it needed to.

Johnson said N.C. DOT likes to have a sidewalk system at a crossing with handicap accessibility at the curb.

Tyndall said he had counted 20 people crossing the trafficked boulevard by 2 p.m.

“They’re not all crossing at the light,” he said. “They’re crossing at various spots.”

He said his presence in a former police vehicle had another effect.

“I’ve noticed a lot of cars slowing down,” he said.