Citizen scientists do battle with traffic ‘beg buttons’

Twitter users’ data puts issue back on councillors’ agenda

Darcy Reynard hates “beg buttons” so much, he created an online map and recruited Twitter users to use a stopwatch on pedestrian crossing signals across the city.

The map was soon reporting waits of more than three minutes as pedestrians or cyclists shivered in the cold, missed their bus or gave up and jaywalked.

It’s a piece of citizen science, and one reason Coun. Andrew Knack put the issue on the council agenda Tuesday.

He asked traffic engineers to report back on where, why and how the longer waits are happening. They’ll be required to explain how they decide how long to make pedestrians wait for a “walk” signal. The report is due in 12 weeks.

“(Long waits) increase jaywalking and pedestrian injuries,” said Reynard, a PhD student in human geography and planning at the University of Alberta.

He and others who walk and bike are upset with a specific style of traffic signal called beg buttons.

That’s where people must push a button to trigger a “walk” signal, even if there’s a green light for vehicles travelling the same direction.

Because there’s no automatic walk, beg buttons often force people to wait an entire light sequence before getting a signal to cross.

It goes against city guidelines for high-pedestrian areas, but occurs even in the downtown core.

For Reynard’s map, people submitted 134 timing points from across central Edmonton. The longest was 200 seconds (three minutes, 20 seconds). Many others averaged over one minute.

Two intersections were timed five times each. Stony Plain Road and 147 Street had an average wait of one minute, 35 seconds, while Scona Road and 94 Avenue averaged one minute, 24 seconds.

“You don’t get out of your car to go press a button every time you want to cross the street,” said Knack, who also heard from seniors on the issue. Because walk cycles are short, they often miss their chance to cross, then hit the button and have to wait a long time for the next opportunity.

“A lot of this just comes from the fact years and years ago, the pedestrian crossings were more of an afterthought,” said Knack, hoping for solutions that won’t significantly slow vehicle traffic.

Knack also asked officials to update council on the number of pedestrian crosswalks that still need safety upgrades. Officials have a list of 275, but haven’t shared it with council.

Knack wants to know how fast they can be upgraded within the current budget.

Meanwhile, Coun. Scott McKeen put a unique affordable housing request on the table.

The neighbourhood of Riverdale has three city-owned lots that officials want to sell at full price on the open market. But the community league would like the city to build affordable housing instead.

“It’s rare for any community league to advocate for more affordable housing options in a neighbourhood,” said McKeen, bringing the issue to council Tuesday.

He submitted a formal inquiry to get a history of the lots, why the city wants to sell them, whether the city considered using them for affordable housing and what types of affordable housing are needed the most.