Having gone to Ball State, I got to appreciate first-hand the convenience of the diagonal crosswalk (the "scramble light") in the heart of campus. An intersection I've thought for awhile that would benefit from a similar treatment is pictured above: the Monon/Westfield/Winthrop intersection in Broad Ripple. Currently, trail users must cross the street twice to legally proceed across the intersection, which is as inconvenient to them as it is for the cars who have to wait for the trail user to cross the street each time. Not to mention the intersection itself is a mess of people and cars trying to figure out right-of-way, usually because a trail user crosses once and starts to cross again, only to look both ways and see a car coming, the car seeing the trail user, slows or stops in a fit of considerate rage to let the trail user go, but now another car is edging forward to turn off Winthrop, and Bob's your uncle. I propose something like this:

Normally, diagonal crosswalks are accompanied by lights that halt all vehicular traffic to allow pedestrians to cross however they need, but I don't think something that elaborate is particularly necessary at this intersection. It's a casual enough intersection that I think would regulate itself, especially without the confusion of trail users not knowing how to cross the intersection (I'll admit I usually do cross diagonally when there's no traffic, and a lot of users already think they can even with traffic present, causing the aforementioned confusion and condescension among intersection-goers). The only problem I really see is during heavy trail use days/times, if trail users don't know to wait their turn, it could cause vehicular traffic some annoyance, but I think ample signage directed to trail users to respect vehicle traffic and wait their turn when vehicle traffic is present would do well enough to regulate the intersection. But, I've also been accused often enough of being naïve/idealistic. What are some of your thoughts?