Council puts brakes on roundabout
Pedestrian safety concerns raised by councillors
At its Wednesday committee of the whole meeting, St. John’s city council decided not to go ahead with constructing a roundabout at Allandale Road and Prince Philip Drive — at least not any time soon.
The decision came in a roundabout way — it was the result of an agenda item on whether the city should write a letter to the provincial government requesting funding for the roundabout.
The roundabout was estimated to cost roughly $2 million, with the city planning to ask the province to pay 75 per cent, and the city providing the other 25 per cent. However, no funding had yet been allocated for the project by either level of government and no funding agreements were in place.
“When you write a letter asking for 75-25 cost-sharing, then you have to be prepared to pay your 25 per cent, and council has voted — decided — that it’s not a priority for council at this time,” Mayor Danny Breen said after the meeting.
Preparing a design for the roundabout, however, already cost the city $39,675, and exploring an option with multi-use underpasses cost an additional $13,800.
Prior to deciding on the letter to the province, Garrett Donaher, city manager of transportation engineering, presented an overview and update of the MUN Area Traffic Study that was commissioned by the city in 2014, one of the first priorities of which was to construct this roundabout.
Discussion after Donaher’s presentation concluded with Coun. Sandy Hickman motioning to send the funding request letter to the province, but no councillor would second the motion, ultimately stalling the decision.
Breen said it could potentially be considered again in the future “as the need arises, and council may consider moving with it again in the future,” but he could not give a time when it might come up at council again.
PEDESTRIAN SAFETY
Discussion after Donaher’s presentation focused often on pedestrian safety, something which he said was a focus of the study.
He said a roundabout with many lanes, such as this busy intersection, gets more complicated for pedestrians and people with mobility concerns, so the design included flashing beacons at crosswalks for that reason.
Deputy Mayor Sheilagh
O’leary said she was “not 100 per cent confident” the flashing beacons would be enough to address pedestrian safety, adding the area has heavy pedestrian traffic.
Donaher said there is “great” yielding compliance amongst motorists when rapid flashing beacons are implemented.
Coun. Maggie Burton questioned what problem the roundabout was intended to solve in the first place.
Donaher said the roundabout recommendation was an effort to get ahead of an anticipated future problem with an increase in traffic as the population of St. John’s grows.
He said the intersection is among the top three areas in the city in terms of the number of collisions, but roundabouts can reduce the likelihood of severe collisions.
Coun. Ian Froude said he is not convinced the roundabout is needed. He said the anticipated problem with the increased traffic assumes the same level of vehicle usage as today, but he hopes public transportation use will continue to increase.
Froude also said he doesn’t understand why it would be safer for pedestrians.
Donaher explained that survivability of collisions with high-speed traffic is “abysmal” compared to low-speed traffic.
He said roundabouts force drivers to slow down to about 40 km/h, so if there’s a collision, a pedestrian is more likely to survive. He said the slower speed also gives drivers more time to notice and respond to pedestrians.
In this particular roundabout design, Donaher said, crosswalks would cover two lanes of traffic — areas with more lanes would be broken up into two-lane sections for pedestrians.
Coun. Hope Jamieson wondered if this roundabout is a high priority in terms of getting around St. John’s, and in terms of how the city spends money.
Donaher said he could not answer that question because the city is still awaiting collision data for the intersection, and the transportation master plan is still in progress. He did say it’s “not the biggest priority” right now.
Coun. Jamie Korab said more people are avoiding Prince Philip
Drive by using the Team Gushue Highway. He wondered if the city should wait on asking the province for the roundabout funding until after the transportation master plan is complete.
The discussion concluded with Hickman moving the motion to prepare a letter to the province requesting cost sharing for construction of the roundabout, but no councillors would second the motion.
MORE ROUNDABOUTS ANTICIPATED
The roundabout is just one recommendation of many in the traffic study.
Other recommendations include roundabouts at Clinch Crescent-prince Philip Drive and at Thorburn Road-prince Philip Drive, as well as pedways between Memorial University’s Core Science Facility and the education building, and between the Health Sciences Centre and the Core Science Facility, as well as many other road upgrades and enhancements to public transit.
“I think that there’s going to be more and more roundabouts into the future in the right locations,” said Breen.
“One concern I have with them is how pedestrians are impacted by them, because the pedestrians need protection, and need to be able to walk safely in the city as well, and so you have to be careful when you put them in that you consider pedestrian safety.”