You may have noticed a few new lines painted on the intersection of Canada Ave and Ingram Street.
It’s part of a trial project for a new scramble-style pedestrian crossing and according to Director of Public Works and Engineering Brian Murphy, the whole goal is enhancing pedestrian safety.
“This was in response to real observations of near misses and even actual collisions between pedestrians and vehicles,” said Murphy. Ingram was identified as a good candidate due to a number of factors but high up on the list for Murphy and his team were these near misses with pedestrians.
The scramble-style crosswalk completely stops vehicle traffic in all directions and allows pedestrians to cross diagonally across the intersection without interacting with cars. “You don’t have to be watching for a left-turning vehicle that may not see you the pedestrian, and if a vehicle happens to move, you’re going to see it. It’s going to stand out,” said Murphy.
Murphy added that the trial has an open-ended timeline to gather as much data as possible to make improvements. “So we have the ability to adjust the signal timing. We already made a number of tweaks and they improved flow dramatically. So we have the ability to make more tweaks if needed,” said Murphy who made it clear that the trial will be used to streamline the crossing.
Murphy said that reactions to the project have been positive so far, “we’re hearing from pedestrians, they like the diagonal crossing. It feels and is a lot safer for pedestrians.”
The survey runs until the end of the project, and you can give feedback on the crossing on the City of Duncan’s Big Conversations Page.
