Neighbours demand pedestrian crossing at Ford and Riverside
Neighbours have taken to calling Ford Boulevard at busy Riverside Drive the “Ford Funnel,” because that’s where all the pedestrians risk crossing over to Coventry Gardens and Reaume Park. “A traffic signal or crossover is warranted ASAP, lives depend on it,” resident Brenda Weeks-Clarke told council Monday night as a group living in the area of Ford Boulevard and Riverside Drive asked that a plan for a signalized crossing not be delayed. Residents have been lobbying for years for the crossing at Ford and Riverside. Riverside has no traffic lights between Lauzon and Pillette roads and the traffic — both vehicular and pedestrian — has been building for years, said longtime resident Carol Wilk.
The ambitious, five-phase plan to rebuild Riverside Drive — called the Vista Project — includes a crossing at Ford Boulevard, but that might not happen until 2021 or 2022, councillors were told by engineering staff. And if a $90,000 push-button crossover was built beforehand, it would have to be removed and rebuilt when the Vista Project arrived.
“People are really anxious to see this underway,” Ward 6 Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac said. She said she wants council at budget time to examine the possibility of moving the next phase of the Vista Project forward.
“If we can get the Vista Project and get it going I think residents would probably be open to waiting,” she said.
The Vista Project involves major improvements to the road — from Rosedale Avenue in the west end all the way to the Town of Tecumseh limits. The improvements include new curbs and gutters, sidewalks on the south side of the street, bike paths, utility relocation and road reconstruction. It started with Phase 1, Stage 1 several years ago, between Riverdale Avenue and Solidarity Tower. Work started this year on the next stage of Phase 1 costing nearly $7 million. The $8-million Phase 2 will go from St. Rose Avenue to Ford Boulevard and is supposed to include the crossover. On Monday night, Gignac asked for more signage on Riverside to warn motorists about pedestrians crossing. There’s a large group of people living in the seniors residences and condo towers across from the park, she noted.
She said there have been some “near misses” where pedestrians have almost been struck at Ford/ Riverside.
“When you have a park as beautiful as Reaume Park and Coventry Park, on any given day you’re going to find an awful lot of people in there,” she said, citing moms with their children and people walking their dogs.
“We want people to use our parks, and so being able to get there safely is very important.”