City proposes second trial of barrier on Ninth Street
Three years after Saskatoon city council reversed a decision to block off a Nutana street, city hall administration is proposing another barrier.
On Monday, city council’s transportation committee will consider a proposal to prohibit right turns for westbound traffic onto Lorne Avenue, which connects to Idylwyld Drive.
The restriction would be accomplished with a barrier that would form a sort of cul-de-sac, although motorists could still make right turns from Lorne onto Ninth.
A report heading to Monday’s committee meeting recommends trying the arrangement for a year and measuring impacts on traffic.
“I’m happy that the city’s doing that,” Ninth Street resident Franny Rawlyk said. “As a temporary measure, that’s good. They can gather data.”
Rawlyk moved to Ninth after 2015, when council voted to remove a temporary barricade five months after voting to block off Ninth at Lorne. Both the original decision and the reversal proved divisive.
Some questioned the future of the city’s neighbourhood traffic reviews, in which residents are consulted about issues; the proposal to close the street originated with one such review.
Rawlyk appeared in front of the transportation committee in October to seek a further review of traffic on Ninth. The committee backed the idea.
“Traditionally, a local road never goes onto a freeway access like this does,” Rawlyk said. “It’s kind of righting a wrong.”
City administration rejected the idea of installing a four-way stop at the corner of Ninth and McPherson Avenue because the traffic volume does not come close to the city’s threshold.
The city will only consider a four-way stop if traffic volume exceeds 6,000 vehicles per day, or 600 vehicles during peak hours. According to information gathered over a week in May, an average of 704 vehicles per day travel along the one-block stretch of Ninth between Lorne and McPherson.
In 2014, the average traffic volume was 665 vehicles per day.
The average speed along the stretch is 47 kilometres per hour, up from 45 km/ h in 2014.
The report says the city distributed a survey to 66 households, including 31 on Ninth between McPherson and Lorne. The returned surveys showed 22 in favour of prohibiting right turns and 11 against. Thirteen of the respondents on Ninth between Lorne and McPherson backed the closure, and two were against.
Laurel Beaumont, who lives on McPherson and has been vocal in opposing the road closure, wrote to the committee to complain that the city’s survey is weighted toward those who want the closure.
“The entire community must be considered,” Beaumont wrote in an email.
Beaumont wants to wait until the Traffic Bridge reopens in the fall before any changes are considered.