At the Regular Council Meeting on May 5, Councillor Hickman presented information regarding the pedestrian movement during the current COVID-19 pandemic and sought Council's approval for changes. Consideration was given to the potential for street reconfiguration and signal timing adjustments and staff provided recommendations to Council as part of the City’s response to COVID-19. The following sample projects were presented to Council:
Sample Projects
- Portugal Cove Road - Empire Avenue to New Cove Road:
Street space on the western side of the street reallocated to widen sidewalk. Shown as a yellow line in Figure 1. Also shown in this figure is Baird’s Lane in green which permits a connection to Kenny’s Pond via Tiffany Lane. This project connects neighbourhoods to the Elizabeth Avenue commercial area and recreational opportunities.
- Elizabeth Avenue - Portugal Cove Road to Torbay Road:
The curb lane on both sides of the street is reallocated to active space. Shown as a purple line in Figure 1. This improves the connection from the previous project to the commercial area including the grocery store at Torbay Road and Elizabeth. An extension of this project further west along Elizabeth Avenue would further improve this connection but has increased impacts on vehicle travel.
- Lemarchant Road - Campbell Avenue / Pleasant Street to Cookstown Road:
The parking lane on the south side of Lemarchant would be reallocated to active space. Shown as a yellow line on Figure 2. This parking lane is currently underused due to business closures. Two pharmacies are in close proximity of the western end of this sample project. It also allows connection into the downtown at several places and serves St. Clare Hospital. An extension of this project further east along Military Road would further improve this connection but has increased impacts on vehicle travel.
- Parade Street - Lemarchant Road to Merrymeeting Road:
Street space on the eastern side of the street would be reallocated for active use. Shown as a red line on Figure 2 this is a short connection between sample projects c and e.
- Newtown Road - Merrymeeting Road to Elizabeth Avenue:
Street space on the eastern side of the street would be reallocated for active use. Shown as a purple line on Figure 2. The space allocated for this project would be narrower than others given the constraints imposed by existing infrastructure. However, this sample project provides a good connection to recreational opportunities and a grocery store for the surrounding community.
- Harbour Drive:
The parking lane on the south side of Harbour Drive would be reallocated to active space. Shown as a yellow line on Figure 3. Demand for parking along Harbour Drive is currently very low. Connecting Harbour Drive through downtown to Lemarchant Road or Military Road is desirable but no individual route was identified that makes this connection with a good balance of benefit and impact.
On May 5 Council approved Pilot Phase 1 which included the following sample projects:
B: Elizabeth Avenue - Portugal Cove Road to Torbay Road
D: Parade Street - Lemarchant Road to Merrymeeting Road
E: Newtown Road - Merrymeeting Road to Elizabeth Avenue
F: Harbour Drive
Harbour Drive was later removed from the pilot project due to the implementation of the Downtown Pedestrian Mall. At that time, it was decided that consideration would be given to future projects depending on the outcome of the pilot project. Councillor Burton requested that this project be revisited to consider additional locations for this initiative. Considerable discussion took place with the following points from members of Council summarized:
- Council and staff are receiving feedback on the pilot project.
- The 30-day evaluation will go to Committee of the Whole on August 5th.
- Connectivity is essential for this project to be usable to pedestrians.
- Intermediate improvements to the current set up should be considered. Recommendations for improvements can be made to staff regarding existing projects.
- There are safety concerns on Elizabeth Avenue. Behavior of vehicles in the protected lane on Elizabeth Avenue may need to be addressed with increased signage.
- Mobility needs should be considered within these projects.
- Consideration must be made to the requirement to use a parking lane to accomplish the changes to the Lemarchant Road location if that project moves forward.
- It was suggested to expand west to include the water west connection to the trail way.
Following discussion, a recommendation was moved by Councillor Burton for the addition of locations to the pilot project. As a result of the motion being lost it was determined that Council should wait for the results of the evaluation before adding additional projects.
Councillor Hickman noted that the pedestrian recall signal is slowing traffic on Kelsey and Messenger Drive. At this time, no action will be taken by staff on this matter.