A series of safety improvements are set to hit several streets in Bradford, based on recommendations from the community and traffic safety advisory committee.
During the regular meeting on Aug. 6, council approved all the recommendations, which include U-turn restrictions, flexible posts and an improved crosswalk on Colborne Street, plus a new all-way stop at the intersection of West Park Avenue and Veterans Street, as well as parking and stopping restrictions on Northgate Drive.
Those measures are aimed at improving traffic and pedestrian safety near schools, according to Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper, who chaired the committee meeting in Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine’s absence.
“We have to give the priority to the children who are in the most vulnerable areas and that’s right by a school,” he said of the crosswalk on Colborne, noting that parked vehicles frequently obstruct the view and reiterating that traffic safety is the No. 1 strategic priority of council.
There’s also a considerable savings compared to the estimated $40,000-50,000 cost of installing a raised crosswalk in that location.
“We had other measures that we could use in our toolbelt to highlight that crosswalk, which was a new opportunity for us to try new types of mitigation that is both cost effective on taxpayers' dollars and also highlights the crosswalk itself,” Harper said.
According to a report to the committee from Paul Dubniak, transportation technologist, it will cost about $15,000 from the committee’s budget to add painted lines and flexible posts on either side of Colborne Street, near the crosswalk across from St. Marie of the Incarnation Catholic School, which connects to the pedestrian pathway from Cambridge Crescent.
Those are intended to create a pinch point to slow traffic and ensure better visibility at the crossing, by preventing people from parking vehicles too closely.
The work is also set to include signage at the crossings for users, as well as along the street to inform drivers that U-turns are prohibited between Scanlon Avenue and Porter Street/Natale Court.
During the Aug. 6 meeting, Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott, who represents the area, proposed an amendment and council agreed to also include sets of three flexible posts (expected to be similar to those on Northgate) along Colborne between Britannia Avenue and Line 8, to help address speeding.
As of May 2024 Colborne saw an average daily traffic volume of 1,899 vehicles, of which almost eight per cent were recorded to exceed the 40-km/h speed limit by 10 km/h, according to the report.
Close to another school, Holy Trinity Catholic High School, staff found “high” numbers of pedestrian and vehicle volumes at the intersection of two collector roads, Veterans Street and West Park Avenue, leading to the recommendation and approval of the all-way stop at an estimated cost of $4,000, according to a separate report from Dubniak.
While the vehicle and pedestrian counts, don’t quite meet the thresholds set out in the Ontario Traffic Manual, Dubniak noted that with 717 pedestrians crossing West Park between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. and more than 5,400 cars passing in the same time, counts are close enough to justify the change, similar to decisions made by the committee in the past.
Near St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic School, on Northgate Drive from Archer Avenue to Noble Drive, parking will only be allowed on the west side and prohibited on the east side, with additional no parking signs within 15 metres of those intersections.
More signs are expected to inform drivers that U-turns will be prohibited on Northgate between Archer and Roughley Street.
Harper explained the committee hopes the changes on Northgate will make things safer for school children and encourage more people to walk rather than driving children to school, and said he’s seen people parking along streets in the area as early as 2 o’clock in the afternoon to pick up kids.
“We need to be able to create safe spaces for our children crossing the road there,” he said.
While he suspects the new restrictions won’t prevent parents from pulling over to quickly let kids out, Harper hopes those parents who prefer to walk children up to the doors will park farther away to prevent issues of congestion on street and in the school’s drop-off area.
“We are definitely tackling a lot of key issues here, and we might get it wrong, but at the end of the day we are prioritizing our school zones for the safety for our children,” he said.
June 19 marked what would become the committee’s final meeting in that form, before Mayor James Leduc announced on July 18, he would use strong mayor powers to restructure two committees.
