The City of Duncan is considering another project to make its streets more pedestrian friendly.
The city is implementing a trial pedestrian scramble crossing at the intersection of Canada Avenue and Ingram Street.
A pedestrian scramble crossing, also known as a diagonal crossing or X-Crossing, is a type of traffic signal movement that temporarily stops all vehicle traffic, from all directions, allowing pedestrians to cross an intersection in every direction, including diagonally, during a dedicated time phase that is for pedestrians only.
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A statement from the city said the initiative is being taken to increase pedestrian safety at the Canada/Ingram intersection.
The statement said the project will begin as a trial program to determine the viability and community reaction to it.
“The trial will see partial road markings installed in the intersection and slight adjustments to the signal timings to accommodate the all-directions pedestrian crossings,” the city said.
“All of these changes can be reversed with minor costs if the trial program is proven to be not successful. If the initiative is shown to be successful, the partial road markings will be extended across the remainder of the intersection and redone using more permanent paint markings. The safety and convenience of pedestrians is an important priority for the City of Duncan. For this reason, the primary purpose in changing the traffic signaling in the intersection from a traditional crossing to a scramble crossing is to increase pedestrian safety when crossing the intersection.”
At the Duncan council meeting on July 17, Coun. Garry Bruce said he thinks the scramble crossing is a good idea as long as times are long enough for pedestrians to cross.
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CAO Peter de Verteuil said he’s sure there will be time specifications that will have to be met at the intersection.
“We’re the first ones in the Cowichan Valley to do this, but not the first jurisdiction to do a scramble intersection, so I’m sure there are some standards for that,” he said.
The City recently launched an engagement page with a survey to gather public input on the project as part of the trial period.
The survey can be found at https://bigconversations.duncan.ca/pedestrian-scramble/survey_tools/trial-pedestrian-scramble-crossing-at-canada-ingram.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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