CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Pedestrians at the intersection of Queen and Grafton streets in Charlottetown may soon be scrambling.
Charlottetown’s public works committee is entertaining the idea of introducing an initiative called pedestrian scrambling at that location.
Pedestrian scrambling would see traffic stopped in all four directions for 20 to 30 seconds while pedestrians would be allowed to proceed across all four pedestrian crosswalks at the same time.
Once traffic is able to proceed as per normal, pedestrians would then be able to move as they do now.
“Right now, there is still more review to do,’’ Scott Adams, manager of the public works department, said Wednesday following the monthly meeting of the public works committee.
Adams noted that the ratio of pedestrians to traffic at the intersection at peak times during the year is 60 to 70 per cent pedestrians compared to traffic. The majority of pedestrians cross between Cows Ice Cream and the Confederation Centre of the Arts.
It would cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to upgrade the intersection’s signals to make it possible.
Mayor Philip Brown thinks it would make one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the city much more pedestrian friendly.
Brown also said there were some suggestions in the community that the city allow traffic to turn left from Grafton onto Queen Street, something that is currently prohibited. However, members of the committee didn’t seem too keen on that idea.
Coun. Mitchell Tweel, who sits on the public works committee, said his biggest concern with this idea is causing traffic backups on Queen and Grafton streets, as well as traffic trying to turn right from Great George Street onto Grafton Street.
“I want more information,’’ Tweel said. “Sometimes you solve one problem only to create another. Are we creating a log jam?’’
Adams said he will venture to find some answers before the committee meets in August.
“The committee had more questions that we hadn’t done the research on,’’ Adams said. “There are more studies and modelling that we have to do . . . (we need) to provide some type of answers to them. Over the next month, we’ll do that work and bring those answers back to the committee next month.’’
