City Hall is looking into the speeding issues at the intersection of Richmond Street and Park Lane, and will be temporarily putting a crossing guard in place while they figure out a traffic calming strategy.
Richmond Street Public School is situated across from the intersection and some councillors have been getting calls from concerned parents.
The proposal for a crossing guard and traffic study was brought forward at Tuesday’s city council meeting by councillor Ken Sentance.
“When that light at Collier and Richmond is green, they fly through there,” he told fellow councillors. “Parents park over there to pick up their kids so visibility is poor and you have speeding traffic.”
Councillor Carmen DeRose applauded councillor Sentance's proposal and said that hiring more crossing guards should be a top priority for the city.
“Students that live east of Richmond Street School are not going to walk all the way back to the corner of Collier Road and then cross the street,” he said. “They’re not going to backtrack. They’re going east and there’s no crossing guard there. I know we’re having trouble hiring them but if can figure out a strategy to entice more people to become crossing guards that would be great.”
Councillor Anthony Longo inquired about the financial implications of hiring another crossing guard.
“We would have to go through a recruitment process to get someone there,” answered the Director of Public Works and Community Services Geoff Holman. “In the meantime we could get a casual labourer to fill in the gaps. From a budget point of view we’re looking at a number around 16,000 dollars for one crossing guard and we would probably have to add another couple 1,000 dollars for signage and delineation of the crosswalk and that type of thing.”
During a discussion on the proposal, Councillor Victoria Wilson also brought up the crossing at Collier Road and Richmond Street, which she said is a nightmare in the morning.
“People are coming from that subdivision on Richmond and are trying to make a right onto Collier to get on the highway,” she said. “Hardly any cars get through because then they’re crossing all those kids. If they had an all-way stop and crossed all the kids at once, it provides a lot more safety for pedestrians.”
Mayor Terry Ugulini explained that he’s been trying to get that part of Collier Road enrolled in the region’s red-light camera program, but councillor Wilson said that she thinks there are better ways to solve the problem.
"To actually change the way the lighting system works in the morning would make more sense,” said councillor Wilson. “It would be safer for pedestrians, it would be more timely for cars.”
Holman said that City Hall staff could look into ways of optimizing the light system at that intersection.
A report looking into traffic calming strategies at Richmond Street and Park Lane will be brought forward to city council at a later date.
