The city of P.A. is to be spend $30,000 on installing yellow flashing warning lights at the crosswalk next to Carlton High School. (submitted photo/ City of P.A.)

By Glenn Hicks

crosswalk conundrum

Flashing warning lights to be added to challenging crosswalk

Jul 23, 2019 | 6:03 PM

After years of discussions about how to improve safety, Prince Albert city council is set to approve a change to the crosswalk on Sixth Avenue E. outside Carlton High School. Pending approval next month following Monday’s executive committee meeting, the city will install special flashing yellow beacons – at a cost of $30,000 – to warn motorists students may be crossing.

The crosswalk has been the scene of various recent incidents involving vehicles hitting pedestrians, and not exclusively students. However, the vast majority of people who cross there are from the school. A report presented to council this week showed that almost 300 students use the crossing each lunch time.

Various options considered

City staff pondered various safety improvements after a proposal to paint a special three-dimensional crosswalk was shelved in May, in part after objections were raised from the director of the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division Robert Bratvold about its effectiveness.

Bratvold wrote to his local councillor in his private capacity. Other measures the city considered included a human guard to staff the crosswalk, fencing to channel students to the existing signalized crossing a little further up the road, and a push-button half signal with a red, amber, green light sequence and a “walk” and “don’t walk” signal for pedestrians. This option was also priced at $30,000 however, the potential negative is that it could cause additional traffic back-up and constant interruptions being so close to the other nearby traffic lights. A staff report indicated St. Mary’s students at the half signal on Second Avenue W. and 13^th Street sometimes push the button, then see a gap in the traffic and cross before the light turns red. That then forces traffic to stop even though the pedestrian has already gone.

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An example of how the yellow flashing light crosswalk would look like. (submitted photo/City of P.A. report)

Flashing lights welcomed but is it enough?

The move to the yellow flashing lights is being welcomed by Bratvold.

“I think the yellow flashing lights are a good step,” he told paNOW. “They’re not my preferred [option] … I think the red amber, and green lights would be my preference but I’m not the traffic safety expert.”

Bratvold said he didn’t want to be critical of the city as they were taking measures to address safety, but he wondered why a new half signal with the stop button and red light couldn’t be chosen and then synchronized with the nearby traffic lights so there wasn’t an interruption to traffic flow.

The flashing yellow lights do not feature the “walk” and “don’t walk” signals for pedestrians and walkers will still need to judge whether it is safe to cross.

Is it our crosswalk and safety program or the school’s? _{– Greg Dionne}

Speaking during the committee meeting, Mayor Greg Dionne baulked at a suggestion from some councillors that the school division be consulted first before moving ahead with the flashing yellow light option.

“I sit on the school liaison committee. They’re not going to give us any money and at the end of the day we have to decide, is it our crosswalk and safety program or the school’s?”

Dionne said the city should proceed with its chosen option as it was for improved safety for all residents, not just Carlton students.

“The key for me is it’s the city’s responsibility to make the city safe for traffic and pedestrians. We looked at other options and we believe this is the most viable option,” he said.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow