By Chad Feehan / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Trail advocates and members of Mount Pearl City council continue to search for a midpoint where they can agree on how to address the busy and dangerous intersection of the T’Railway and Commonwealth Avenue.
Gary Martin, a member of the Commonwealth Avenue T-Rail Crossing Group as well as Bicycle Newfoundland and Labrador, argues the crossing should be prominent in the City’s Accessibility Plan, which has no mention of a crosswalk.
The problem is that the trail is bisected at the bottom of a steep hill coming off Topsail Road where cars rush down towards the intersection of Commonwealth and Ruth Avenue, or up from Commonwealth to Topsail.
As it stands, the safest, and legal, solution is for trail users to walk up Commonwealth to the Park Avenue intersection, cross at the lights, and make their back down Commonwealth on the other side to rejoin the trail. The temptation for some, though, is to avoid the couple of hundred metres of sidewalk detour and risk crossing four lanes of often high speed traffic in an area where drivers are not expecting to see pedestrians.
Martin doesn’t think the City’s existing solution is simple or safe in lieu of what could be implemented.
“We’re looking at this entirely from a safety perspective,” he said.
Martin compares coming onto Commonwealth Avenue from the steep incline of Topsail Road and Mount Carson Avenue to the exit from Team Gushue Highway onto Park Avenue, of which there are multiple crosswalks in a row.
Martin said the multiple crosswalks on the Dodge City end of Park Avenue have a traffic calming effect, and the same could work for Commonwealth Avenue.
“Conceptually, in theory, by placing a crosswalk here (at the T’Railway instersection with Commonwealth), that would also reduce and mitigate speeds coming down here,” he said.
Mayor Dave Aker isn’t so quick to compare the two intersections of trail and road.
“The volume of traffic on Park Avenue is not quite the same as it would be on Commonwealth,” said the mayor. “Sometimes the considerations are a little bit different. There’s no real black and white solution to any intersection.”
Aker does agree with Martin on one thing: the situation is not ideal. However, he feels a crosswalk at the trail intersection on Commonwealth, even with flashing lights, would be more dangerous due to the congested nature of the area.
“It’s just the gap between the intersections and the parking lots in the area,” said Aker. “It’s too small.”
Kathy Hawkins, the manager at Inclusion NL, was asked by the City for her input on the issue. She suggested a crosswalk spanning both mouths of the trail, with flashing lights and sounds to warn drivers, as well as pedestrians, of its presence.
The walk up Commonwealth to the Park Avenue lights, she said, is a low accessibility route.
“The grade going up to that traffic light as well as the extra distance people have to make in order to get up there wasn't the most accessible process,” said Hawkins.
She compared the idea of a pedestrian crossing at the trail mouths on Commonwealth to the Rennies River Trail crossing on Kings Bridge Road by Dominion in St. John’s, which also crosses four busy lanes.
“Clearly it’s something that needs to be watched,” she said. “There are residents that have concerns if it moves up to the intersection, and there are those that have concerns if they keep the crosswalk exactly where the T’Railway is.”
As part of its recently enacted Accessibility Plan, the City is moving money towards making the Glacier Arena accessible for people with mobility issues. Martin asked why the same can’t be done for those using the trail.
“Why not make the crosswalk accessible,” he said. “This is used by CNIB visually impaired riders. They cannot cross safely.”
Martin suggested the City could apply for funding from outside sources such as ACOA and Trans Canada Trail to engineer a solution.
Aker is clear the City’s conversation about the intersection is not over, and suggests possible future solutions, such as diverting the trail altogether, or piggybacking on the eventual replacement of the bridge that runs across the Waterford River.
“Council isn’t going to give up on it,” said the mayor. “It is in our mind, we realize that a solution is needed. We listen to our residents.”
