This five-lane road gets heavy rush hour traffic and there are few cross-streets, so it's always been a challenge for pedestrians to cross safely. One young woman was killed several years ago trying to cross.
Then, a couple of years ago the city started enforcing the law that cars must yield to pedestrians. This caused a number of car accidents: one car would stop for a person in the crosswalk only to get rear-ended by the person behind them. So finally the city installed these "islands" at the crosswalks and also flashing lights that flash when a button is pushed. It seems like it's now getting a little better---cars stop when they see the flashing lights, and the walkers can get across the street safely.
