By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Oliver has identified a location for another raised crosswalk in an effort to support active transportation and address speed concerns.
Town council decided on the intersection of Fairview Road and Dividend Street/Panorama Crescent as the best place for the raised crosswalk.
The town agreed at their Sept. 9 meeting, to apply for up to $100,000 through the province’s Active Transportation Infrastructure grant to install two raised crosswalks at a price tag of $50,000 each.
But the town was unable to decide on exactly where the second one ought to go. There was agreement that one should be installed on McKinney Road at Coyote Street, but council thought a second one on the same street would be overkill.
Town staff were then tasked with identifying other potential sites for the second one.
Three options were brought to council, of which they ultimately decided on the Intersection of Fairview Road, and Dividend Street/Panorama Crescent (Option A).
This option would connect the neighbourhood, provide a connection to the Ditch Tail, and provide speed control in the area.
Adam Goodwin, project coordinator with the town explained that when staff went back and looked at the grant guidelines, this option provided the best case to bring to the province. The grant guidelines indicate that the proposed locations should support active transportation, not only address speed control.
“Option A . . . would provide a really strong connection to the new Ditch Trail, and we think would really align with the grant program, and how they evaluate funding requests,” he explained.
Councillor Petra Veintimilla commented that this location works well “not only to get people to the Ditch Trail . . . but also to get kids across safely the other way. There isn’t really a way out of that Panorama neighbourhood to get to the elementary school that doesn’t lead to you either crossing where there is no crosswalk, or walking on the shoulder of a busy road.”
One option brought up in the original September discussion suggested installing a raised crosswalk further out on Fairview Road near the edge of town. But Goodwin noted that upon looking further at the grant guidelines it was not the best option.
“We felt that it would be really hard to come up with an explanation that the province would accept, we felt like they would feel it was more of a vehicle traffic rationale versus a pedestrian rationale,” he clarified.
The second option that was brought to council’s attention was across Meadows Drive at Bellevue Drive. This option would provide a safer crossing between the Forbes Wetland Trail and the Fortis Powerline Trail.
Mayor Martin Johansen explained that he thought Option A was best, but the Belleveue Drive location would be good as well, “it’s hard to see in that area, with some of the trees and the road winding, so that would be a positive one there as well for speed and safety, so it checks two boxes in that area.”
The last option was to install a raised crosswalk across Fairview Road at Gala Street to provide a safer crossing for students in front of the Southern Okanagan Secondary School.
