BLACKFOOT — When Angelina Quilimaco, blind since shortly after birth, started working on increasing her mobility a few years ago, she found a new obstacle to getting where she wanted to go.
“I wanted to be more independent. I wanted to be able to go over to The Short Stop,” she said. “To go to The Short Stop, you have to cross Highway 91.”
The problem was clear. Quilimaco, because of her blindness, couldn’t see when it was safe to cross the busy highway, and the light didn’t have an audio element to inform her when it was safe. She was living on Walker Street in 2023 as she was working on her mobility skills.
The signal light at Walker Street had a “high-intensity activated crosswalk,” or H.A.W.K. system, but it was a basic system that didn’t have an audible capability to aid those who are visually impaired, explained Juan Godinez, a sign tech with the city of Blackfoot’s Street Department. That basic system is the one that comes with the lights that tell pedestrians “Walk” and “Don’t Walk.” Godinez said there is additional equipment that upgrades the H.A.W.K. system to one with audible elements.
“With the audible system, it makes a chirping noise,” Godinez said. “This helps people who can’t see to find the button to push for the crosswalk. Then it verbally tells someone when it’s safe to walk.”
At the time Quilimaco was working on her mobility skills, she was being aided by April Mills, a certified orientation and mobility specialist with the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Idaho Falls.
When Quilimaco was faced with the issue of crossing Highway 91, she mentioned it to Mills.
“She suggested I write a letter to the city about the light,” Quilimaco said.
And she did write that letter.
“She wrote the letter, and I coordinated a meeting with the city of Blackfoot and the Idaho Department of Transportation,” Mills said.
That resulted in an upgrade to the H.A.W.K. light system. But not right away for reasons that Godinez explained.
“It took a while to get the right parts,” he said.
There were actually multiple attempts to get the right parts for the H.A.W.K. system already in place. Godinez said the city received a couple of different parts that weren’t correct for the system currently in place. Once they finally got the right parts late last year, Godinez installed them and then had an electrician come in to finalize the work.
During the time between the first meeting with the city and the final installation, Quilimaco did have to move. Financial struggles during the past couple of years forced her to find a different place to live. Still, she is grateful for what the city has done.
“It was amazing,” she said. “It was one of the nicest things I have had done for me. I was very excited and very appreciative.”
Quilimaco, 46, was born a little more than two months premature. Her vision was lost, she said, when doctors put too much oxygen in the incubator, resulting in her retinas being burned. Her eyes were then removed when she was 24, and she now uses prosthetic eyes.
Godinez said the city didn’t just upgrade the one light; they also made the same upgrades to the light on Highway 91 near the Idaho Potato Museum. He said there aren’t currently plans to upgrade any other H.A.W.K. systems in the city.
Quilimaco has used the new lights to cross Highway 91 and continues to express her appreciation for the increased freedom and mobility.
“It’s nice to feel like you are heard and that when you need something, people will listen,” she said.