City identifies 28 sites for crosswalks

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NEARLY $3 million for new crosswalks will be considered in the city’s 2022 budget process.

Municipal traffic experts have identified 28 locations that meet the criteria for some form of pedestrian crossing control, with an early combined cost estimate of about $2.8 million, says a report by city bureaucrats. The report cautions a detailed design hasn’t been done at each location.

The city currently adds an average of four crossings per year at the highest need locations, due to city staff and budget limits, the report notes.

Council’s public works chairperson said the devices are key to improving road safety, since uncontrolled busy crossings could raise the risk of vehicle/pedestrian collisions.

“There is a big shortfall in terms of the warranted but unfunded (crosswalks)… In practice, what tends to happen where you don’t have a crosswalk where it’s warranted, is you have a high level of people driving cars on that street and you have a high level of pedestrians crossing that street in uncontrolled circumstances,” said Coun. Matt Allard.

The public works committee recently referred the potential cost for the warranted, but not yet funded, crosswalks to the 2022 budget process.

Installing more of the devices could help Winnipeggers feel safe walking to more destinations, which could help entice them to choose foot travel more often, said Allard.

“The lowest hanging fruit for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is (for) people to (shift modes of transportation). You need to build the facilities that make it easier to choose active transportation (such as) properly administered pedestrian corridors,” he said.

The report concludes that crosswalks are warranted at points along Wellington Crescent, St. Mary’s Road, Lakewood Boulevard and Burrows Avenue, among many other locations. The list is based on pedestrian and vehicle volumes, along with each site’s proximity to other traffic controls and pedestrian crossings.

Immediate construction may not make sense at some of the sites, however, which may be altered by upcoming bicycle networks or Winnipeg Transit stop changes, the report warns. Crosswalk additions could also be cheaper if they’re timed to coincide with adjacent road upgrades, it notes.

Michel Durand-Wood, a volunteer with Safe Speeds Winnipeg, said he’s glad to see the city pay attention to pedestrian access but believes the effort can’t be limited to crosswalks.

“I think crosswalks are better than nothing. But if we were addressing the actual issue, crosswalks would be less necessary... If traffic speeds are low enough, then we don’t need (these) expensive crosswalk structures in a lot of those places,” said Durand-Wood.

Safe Speeds advocates for lower speed limits on residential streets and other routes where pedestrians and vehicles share the road.

Durand-Wood said it would be “disingenuous” to suggest the city can’t afford to add the crosswalks, since it devoted $152 million to road renewal in 2021.

“We can move some money around pretty easily, depending what our priorities are,” he said.

The city report notes another 70 potential crossing locations are still being studied, though it’s too early to say if they warrant pedestrian crossing devices.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga