Victoria Maybee, Centretown News
Pedestrians are advised not to use the west side of the Preston Street transit walk way because of lack of snow removal. Motorists and pedestrians in Centretown are on a collision course yet again – this time over the design of the recently opened temporary Preston Street extension and LeBreton Flats transit station.
Preston Street’s northern expansion opened this month as part of ongoing LRT development and promptly faced criticism from Dalhousie Community Association activist and urban affairs blogger Eric Darwin. Darwin says that in an attempt to be frugal, the city skimped on infrastructure that would have ensured the safety of pedestrians and transit users.
“Motorists got full–size lanes, shoulders on the roads, safety barriers, run–off zones, gentle turns at the intersections, so that traffic can and does take the road and intersections at high speed – probably higher than at the old Booth Street sections and intersections,” says Darwin. “Pedestrians, in contrast, get to walk on the shoulder of the road, through the slush piles left by the plow, and all the water that runs off the roads (and) over the tops of the sidewalks.”
In addition to the lack of raised sidewalks on much of the extension, Darwin cites other pedestrian safety issues, including a lack of automatic pedestrian traffic lights and inadequate snow removal. Darwin says that the snow buildup near traffic posts makes it “very unpleasant and difficult for able-bodied pedestrians to beg for a light, and impossible for the elderly or even slightly disabled to access the buttons.”
The extension is set to be scrapped in 2016, which leads Darwin to believe that the design of the extension was chosen merely to save the city money.
Somerset Ward Coun. Catherine McKenney agrees that the extension in its current state is unsafe for pedestrians – especially given the heavily residential neighbourhood nearby.
“I was quite disappointed when I saw the intersection,” says McKenney. “It’s far too wide, it puts cars first – you could probably make a right turn without stepping on the brake. By making that Preston extension and that intersection as wide as we have it only encourages people to drive fast.”
To help improve the situation, McKenney says that a speed board, to display drivers’ speeds, will be added to help slow motorists and to allow the city to collect data on traffic speeds.
McKenney says that speed-bumps will not be added as the road is a truck route, but the city is in talks about adding automatic pedestrian traffic lights, a raised sidewalk on the west side of the extension, enhanced snow removal services, and a change to the sidewalk at Preston and Albert to allow cyclists to safely navigate a narrow section of the road.
The city may have some practical measures in the works to help solve the issue, but Darwin offers a less conventional solution, saying “all traffic engineers in the city should be forced to use transit and their feet for at least a year as a condition of employment, instead of being required to have a car to park at the fancy city garages and lots provided for staff.”