This column is written as correspondence between Patty to Pedestrian and Maddie the Motorist
Dear Patty the Pedestrian.
Thanks for ideas on how to design road right-of-ways that consider people other than just drivers. You might think it is weird for a driver to say that. But for the last 100 years or so, road design has given priority to drivers.
You wrote that you had seen a lot of these designs since the spring. What were they?
Signed; Maddie the Motorist
Dear Maddie.
Yes, I have been to about 20 different towns and cities, noting design options. Here are just a few of them.
The city of Victoria, B.C. has two good north-south bike routes which used to be railway. But for east-west, it had to get innovative. One street became one-way for vehicles. A two-way bike lane hugged the other side. In between was the traffic island for transit passengers and bike parking. But most innovative was the raised path from the sidewalk to the island, effectively a speed bump for cyclists. This design means pedestrians and wheelchair users don’t have to go down a ramp and back up.
For cyclists in the Ontario cities of Leamington and St. Thomas, they installed three foot tall bollards to narrow the vehicle lane and create the bicycle path. This narrowed road causes drivers to slow down. Between the bollards and the curb is the bicycle lane. At stop sign intersections, there is a short bollard style sign reading “CAUTION STOP FOR [pedestrian symbol] WITHIN CROSSWALK.”
No driver can miss it.
Guelph had a similar design but added speed bumps to the intersection approach. To prevent drivers from squeezing right to make a right turn, there were yellow pre-cast concrete islands. This was the intersection where I saw groups of young children crossing unaccompanied by an adult! It is possible.
Thanks for asking, Maddie.
Signed; Patty the Pedestrian
Bert Groenenberg is a pedestrian, cyclist and driver.
