TENTH LINE ROAD AND BLACKBURN HAMLET BY-PASS EXTENSION INTERSECTION DESIGN

CONCEPTION DE L’INTERSECTION DU CHEMIN TENTH LINE ET DU PROLONGEMENT DE LA ROCADE DE BLACKBURN HAMLET

ACS2007-PWS-TRF-0018 cumberland (19)

A PowerPoint Presentation was provided by the following staff:

§ Michael Flainek, Director, Traffic and Parking Operations (TPO), Public Works and Services (PWS).

§ Mike Wildman, Acting Manager, Infrastructure Approvals and Development, Planning Transit and the Environment (PTE).

§ Greg Kent, Program Manager, Design Review and Implementation, TPO, PWS.

§ Thomas Fitzgerald, Program Manager, Traffic Engineering, TPO, PWS.

A copy of the presentation is held on file with the City Clerk.

The Committees also received the following correspondence. A copy of each is held on file with the City Clerk.

· Email dated 18 September 2007 from Paquette Planning Associates Ltd.

· Email dated 19 September 2007 from Marcel Dénommé, Director, Land Development, Minto Developments Inc.

Councillor Cullen commented that the idea of traffic islands is a good one. He questioned whether there is a stop sign or a ‘yield to pedestrians’ sign for traffic coming along that channel at times when there are pedestrians on the traffic islands wanting to cross. Mr. Wildman responded that the traffic control measures would be dependant on the volume of pedestrians. He explained there is a warrant for ‘yield to pedestrians’ signs and should there be a large enough number of pedestrians crossing, that sign would be installed; otherwise, the normal yield rules would apply. Councillor Cullen felt there should be ‘yield to pedestrian’ sign placed there and questioned whether a direction from the Committees would be required to make that happen when the development goes through. He noted that pedestrian medians are much used in his ward, particularly near Carling and Woodroofe. Mr. Flainek replied that staff would not need direction and that staff would put them in when appropriate, as per the warrants.

The Councillor asked whether staff needed direction to put in pedestrian activated signalization at the pedestrian medians. Mr. Flainek responded that the control is to get the pedestrians to the channelization, where they can then cross freely to the side. Councillor Cullen noted that there would still be six lanes, not including the bike lanes, to cross and he thought it extremely important to have pedestrian operated signalization installed at the medians for those pedestrians who end up stranded there. Mr. Flainek commented that at this intersection and others designed in the same way, the center medians do not actually cross through the pedestrian crossings and therefore anyone using them would be stranded in the middle of traffic, which is not the way staff would like to see a traffic control signal operated. Councillor Cullen agreed but noted it is inevitable that some people will be stranded there and so there should be signals for them to activate so they can safely cross. He proposed to put forward that direction to staff. Mr. Flainek responded that, for safety reason, staff does not want to see pedestrians stranded on a 1.5m wide median that has four lanes of traffic travelling at higher speeds, especially in the winter time. The signal timing will be set to allow for a safe crossing of pedestrians with enough time. He noted that the situation at Carling and Woodroffe is a bit different because the median is a lot wider (approximately 3m wide) to accommodate pedestrians, and is significantly different than this type of situation. He said that staff has an educational program that they offer at schools and senior residences, which they could do with respect to this intersection, to make sure crossings occur the way they are meant to. He added that they would like all traffic control signals to behave in the same manner because there are 1,030 signals at the start of this season and they are timed so that 99 percent of them are timed to allow for pedestrians to safely cross. He suggested that if you start assuming that in certain areas you can accommodate pedestrians in the median, it would amount to a different way of controlling all of these signals, and staff does not believe that would be a safe way of doing so. Councillor Cullen disagreed with Mr. Flainek’s comments and noted that he should go back and review the medians at Carling and Woodroffe because they are not 3m wide and they are highly used.

Councillor Legendre noted that Council has recently approved that intersections will be designed with the use of roundabouts where possible, and that the issue has long been discussed by the Committees, and he questioned why this was never considered with respect to this intersection. Mr. Wildman responded that the issue of roundabouts was discussed in the early stages of the EA, but was dismissed early on as well because of the significant movements and high rate of volume that will ultimately be pushed through this intersection. He noted that the intersection being presented to Committees at this point would not be constructed immediately and that staff is trying to protect the land for development to proceed. Mr. Flainek added that staff has already noted to Council that staff is on board with consideration of roundabouts and will review the feasibility of using one whenever the opportunity presents itself; but the issue with this intersection is that there is already a multi-lane roadway in place right now, and as far as rolling out roundabouts within the City, what staff would like to do is to have some good examples in place of single lane roundabouts to give the community the opportunity to understand the proper operation of them. Staff is currently looking at re-doing the Prince of Wales roundabout so that it functions better. He suggested that introducing a multi-lane roundabout could be looked at in the future.

Councillor Legendre appreciated Mr. Flainek’s response but he did not feel that a roundabout should have been dismissed because of high traffic volume. He noted that many major cities use roundabouts in high traffic volume situations. He noted that this project would essentially be starting from scratch and poses the opportunity to have a roundabout without having to incur the costs of modifying an existing intersection. He thought that staff had implied they would only be considering roundabouts when considering signalization and he requested clarification. Mr. Flainek replied that roundabouts are not, at this point, cheaper than traffic control signals so a roundabout would not be installed to save money but rather because of efficiencies and other operational issues that would be of a benefit to the travelling public. Further, when staff conducts reviews of intersections and retrofits any type of roadway system, they consider roundabouts. Roundabouts are also considered in the initial stages of any environmental assessment of an intersection. Councillor Legendre noted that from a safety perspective, roundabouts are safer because should an accident occur at an intersection with a roundabout, the severity is greatly reduced due their nature.

With respect to channelizations, the Councillor felt they are unsafe and that the physical design of them often leads to more dangerous interaction between vehicles and pedestrians. Mr. Flainek responded that the channelization presented here by staff is a different concept and one that staff is trying to roll out on a limited basis right now. The channels are much tighter and the design speed is at 20km/hour. Previously, there were large radiuses on the corners that allowed for traffic to manoeuvre through them at a higher speed. At some of the larger intersections that are carrying heavy truck traffic and high volumes (along Woodroofe and Hunt Club Road) there are significant channelizations, which were built for moving vehicles efficiently and to serve pedestrians. The design proposed here has not been built anywhere else in the City and it will behave differently, having been designed as simply as possible without any channelization.

Councillor Legendre noted that the City’s stated order of priority when it comes to intersection design is the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, transit and then vehicles, and he was not sure the design of this intersection would fit that description. He questioned whether part of the reason for this design is to accommodate the turning of large tractor-trailers. Mr. Flainek responded these intersections do need to accommodate a significant number of commercial vehicles but as far as the turning radiuses, any design would have to accommodate the larger vehicles and that is why eliminating channelizations creates more asphalt space and requires pedestrians to take a longer time to cross. This proposal is designed primarily to reduce the travel time of pedestrians out in the middle of the through lanes. Councillor Legendre felt that intersections should not be designed to accommodate tractor-trailers at all.

With respect to the medians that separate the cars, the Councillor felt that is their only purpose, and not to be used as pedestrian refuges to separate cars from pedestrians. He felt it is unsafe to present medians as pedestrian refuges because it often leads to pedestrians making crossings when it is unsafe to do so.

Councillor Leadman asked and received clarification from Mr. Wildman about the movements of cyclists making right turns through the channelization and about pedestrian crossings.

Councillor Doucet asked whether any roundabouts have been built in the City in the last five years. Mr. Flainek responded there have been, the most recent being at the intersection of Jockvale and Tartan. A second one will be built adjacent to the aforementioned one. When asked how many had been built in the past five years, Mr. Flainek informed there have been approximately half a dozen installed by the City and that developers are putting some into new subdivisions and communities as they build.

When asked by the Councillor about the recent Bronson and Carling intersection redesign, Mr. Flainek explained that it was retrofitted through two or three different capital programs and a roundabout was not put in because of property constraints. There was no way to put one in there and effectively deal with the traffic volumes that occur, within the property constraints that exist. The Councillor felt that staff had done a good job of working with the community and the Ward Councillor in redesigning that intersection and that it now works very well.

Councillor Doucet noted that, according to studies he had seen, there is a 30 per cent reduction in carbon emissions for roundabouts versus intersections because there is a continuous flow of traffic, as well as improvements for pedestrians, and he felt roundabouts should therefore be the City’s priority in terms of intersection rehabilitation and new design. Mr. Hewitt responded that the difficulty with this issue, particularly with rehabilitations, is that there are often property issues. In more developed and older areas of the city where the constraints are very tight, as with most intersections, the city does not have the property available to install a roundabout, and further, rehabilitation, by its nature, is only intended to rehabilitate what already exists. If the City were to embark on a program where it was actively trying to develop roundabouts on a more widespread basis, where conditions don’t lend themselves, staff would be looking at extremely difficult situations with regard to acquiring property to put them in place and would be eating up what is extremely scarce rehabilitation funding in property acquisition and new construction. He commented that decisions are frequently made that do not necessarily go in line with environmental considerations. One example of this would be if staff took out all the unwarranted four-way stop signs in the city, the city would probably easily exceed the amount of environmental improvement that would be achieved through roundabouts, but decisions have been made for other reasons to do those. He further commented that while staff is very supportive of roundabouts, they are also very cognizant that they are only one tool in the toolbox and are not always suitable for the situation at hand.

Councillor Doucet remarked that roundabouts are found in many places in Europe and often covering limited territory. He wanted staff to provide an update on roundabout evaluation and delivery at some point in the future. He felt this intersection would become a major traffic hazard in time because of its size and the channelization and he wondered how the design could be changed to avoid that. Mr. Flainek responded that you cannot look to Europe as an example because they are in a different situation than this city; they have a different history and have developed their communities differently. He commented that this is an evolution process and that staff are trying to look at new ways of accommodating all different modes of traffic and they have spent the last 10-15 years looking at ways to accommodate pedestrians, looking at vulnerable road users and the whole picture of road safety. He added that although this may become a problematic intersection in the future, that’s just the way that some of these intersections behave, and staff puts a lot of effort in trying to reduce those.

Councillor Wilkinson noted that the intersection of Campeau and Terry Fox in her ward is very dangerous for pedestrians with its current design. She noted that in the Tenth Line Design there are short walkways out to the pedestrian islands across the turn lane, and she questioned whether the surface would be raised or some other measure taken to make it easily identifiable to vehicles as a pedestrian crossing. She felt this would be more effective than an advance sign in getting vehicles to slow down as they approach that area to turn. Mr. Flainek was not aware of the specifics of the EA but he confirmed that it could be added in. He noted that staff has been experimenting with different types of surface treatments to denote pedestrian crossings. Councillor Wilkinson commented that Councillors do not see the final designs until they are constructed and she wanted to ensure that staff plans for it now rather than having to go back and do it after construction is completed.

With respect to bicycle lanes, Councillor Wilkinson noted they are not very safe for cyclists because they often require cyclists to go through lanes of traffic to make turns. She questioned whether any consideration is given to putting cycling lanes or paths on their own instead of as part of the regular roadway, where this could be accommodated. Mr. Flainek commented that although it is not clear in the diagrams presented to the Committees, on all major arterials there are sidewalks on both sides, and one of those is designed as a recreational pathway. It is widened out to about three metres, a centre line is painted, and it then behaves as an area for younger or less experienced cyclists. The more experienced commuter cyclists would use the regular roadway. Councillor Wilkinson noted that the difficulty with two-way recreational paths is that pedestrians and cyclists using the same area are often in conflict. Mr. Flainek commented that is an educational issue.

Councillor Cullen proposed to move “That staff be directed to ensure that there are pedestrian refuges (including pedestrian signals) on the medians at Tenth Line Road and the Blackburn Hamlet by-pass extension”.

The Chair asked staff to comment on the motion. Mr. Flainek responded that putting a button on the median requires that pedestrians are able to access the median. The design here is such that the centre medians are pulled back outside of the pedestrian crossing to accommodate left-turning vehicles through that area, and if the median were pulled into the middle of the pedestrian crossing to allow for an actual pedestrian refuge, the intersection would need to be redesigned to provide a wider turning radius for commercial vehicles, and additional property would have to be acquired in order to do so. This would make the intersection larger and require more time for pedestrians to cross. As well, he noted that on a yearly basis, staff replaces hundreds of traffic signal poles in medians and elsewhere from accidents that are occurring. He felt that putting a button at the median, as it is designed now, indicates to a pedestrian that it is a safe place to be and that it is safe to only cross half way into an intersection at any time, which staff feels is not actually the case, particularly in winter when the medians are not plowed and could be full of slush, snow or ice. He stressed that the message is that pedestrians are to cross and not stop at the medians. If a pedestrian should get caught on the median, s/he should simply wait for the next red light to oncoming traffic before completing the crossing, eliminating the need for a button on the median.

Councillor Cullen was displeased with Mr. Flainek’s comments about needing to redesign an intersection and he argued that it is the City’s responsibility to make sure that an intersection functions well and that pedestrians can cross safely. He reiterated it is inevitable that some pedestrians will get stranded at the median and he felt that if there is no button for them to use to get the light to change, they will become impatient waiting for the next red light, particularly given that this may take a long time due to traffic volumes for which the intersection is being designed, and may simply wait for a gap in traffic to continue crossing, which could be very dangerous.

When asked by the Chair for comment, Mr. Flainek responded that although property is an issue, it is not the priority for staff, safety is. Staff believes the safest way to accommodate pedestrian crossings at this intersection is to get them out of the intersection as quickly as possible. He noted that staff has been trying to accommodate the aging population by recognizing that it takes some of them longer to cross than others and lights are often timed to accommodate that. The first thing staff looks at when considering intersection design review, he said, is the safety aspect.

The Committees then considered the motion put forth by Councillor Cullen.

Moved by Councillor A. Cullen:

That staff be directed to ensure that there are pedestrian refuges (including pedestrian signals) on the medians at Tenth Line Road and the Blackburn Hamlet by-pass extension.

LOST

YEAS (2): Councillors A. Cullen, C. Doucet

NAYS (5): Councillors R. Bloess, M. Wilkinson, J. Legendre, C. Leadman, M. McRae

The Committees then considered the report recommendation as presented.

That Transportation Committees recommend Council approve the Tenth Line Road and Blackburn Hamlet By-pass Extension intersection design as presented in Document 2 (Drawing PWS-TRF-018A).

CARRIED

YEAS (4): Councillors R. Bloess, M. Wilkinson, C. Leadman, M. McRae

NAYS (3): Councillors A. Cullen, C. Doucet, J. Legendre.

Councillor Jellett, the Ward Councillor, thanked the Committee Members for their consideration of this issue, noting that he had spoken with staff previously on many of these issues. He liked the idea of the pedestrian crossing delineation and hoped that it would go forward.