JEFF GRAY
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
August 28, 2008 at 3:27 AM EDT
Starting today, one of Toronto's busiest downtown intersections - Yonge and Dundas streets, where 10-storey flashing billboards, Eaton Centre shoppers and Ryerson University students converge - will undergo a small but radical change meant to symbolize the city's plans to put pedestrians ahead of drivers.
Before the morning rush hour, city workers will remove coverings from new pedestrian crossing signals and unveil Toronto's first experimental "pedestrian scramble" intersection, a traffic-light configuration that stops cars in all directions with a red light to allow pedestrians to cross in all directions, even diagonally.
From behind a windshield, however, the change may not be so popular. It will mean much longer red lights for drivers to make way for this new 28-second, pedestrian-only phase in the traffic-light cycle. Currently, the longest wait at this intersection for drivers (those on Yonge Street) is 31 seconds. As of today, the longest wait for a green light will stretch to 57 seconds, and green lights for drivers will also be five to eight seconds shorter.
The scramble concept, long ago implemented in several other cities around the world, is also known as a "Barnes dance," after Henry Barnes, a traffic commissioner in Denver credited with coming up with the idea there in the 1950s and reportedly making pedestrians so happy they were "dancing in the streets."
However, here in safety-conscious Toronto, the preferred term is "pedestrian priority phase," said John Mende, the city's director of traffic infrastructure management.
"The word 'scramble' gave the impression that it was a little too haphazard," Mr. Mende said in an interview.
He acknowledged that the new configuration - which costs $60,000 for new signals and curb and sidewalk modifications - will mean more queues and delays for drivers. But he said traffic officials believe the effects will be manageable and that the city would monitor the area's traffic closely.
While by no means a new idea - pedestrian scrambles have been tried in Tokyo, Montreal, San Francisco, Miami and elsewhere - the new emphasis on making life easier for the thousands of pedestrians that crowd this intersection every day will send a signal, said local city councillor Kyle Rae, who will attend an opening ceremony this morning.
"I think the city has made it clear over the last number of years that the No. 1 priority is pedestrians. No. 2 is transit, three is cyclists, and four is the car," Mr. Rae said. "... This is an experiment to see if pedestrians are able to benefit from this, and if we are able to get drivers to cope."
The city is also considering a handful of other pedestrian-heavy intersections for similar treatment, likely next year: Yonge and Bloor Streets, Bay Street and Bloor Street West, and Bay and Dundas.
The main rationale for the concept is improved safety, as it essentially eliminates the danger posed by cars turning into streams of pedestrians. However, all turns are already prohibited at Yonge and Dundas, so pedestrians at this intersection will also be allowed to cross when there is a green light for cars, as they always have. Mr. Mende acknowledged that launching the concept here was "symbolic," although important since the area has lots of foot traffic.
An amendment to the plan moved by Mr. Rae and passed by city council added Yonge and Dundas to the list of intersections originally drawn up by city traffic engineers.
Dylan Passmore, an activist with the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation, which promotes walking and cycling, welcomed the scramble.
However, he said the concept could backfire. For example, at other intersections that do allow cars to turn, if pedestrians are then forced to wait only for their special cycle to cross - even as drivers enjoy a green light - jaywalking could increase.
"The devil is in the details with these," said Mr. Passmore, who added that scramble intersections he saw in Sao Paulo, Brazil, were dismal failures. "It's not necessarily an improvement."
Picture of intersection (pedestrian chaos to be added later)
tribes.tribe.net/trulyuniq...f406339c44
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
August 28, 2008 at 3:27 AM EDT
Starting today, one of Toronto's busiest downtown intersections - Yonge and Dundas streets, where 10-storey flashing billboards, Eaton Centre shoppers and Ryerson University students converge - will undergo a small but radical change meant to symbolize the city's plans to put pedestrians ahead of drivers.
Before the morning rush hour, city workers will remove coverings from new pedestrian crossing signals and unveil Toronto's first experimental "pedestrian scramble" intersection, a traffic-light configuration that stops cars in all directions with a red light to allow pedestrians to cross in all directions, even diagonally.
From behind a windshield, however, the change may not be so popular. It will mean much longer red lights for drivers to make way for this new 28-second, pedestrian-only phase in the traffic-light cycle. Currently, the longest wait at this intersection for drivers (those on Yonge Street) is 31 seconds. As of today, the longest wait for a green light will stretch to 57 seconds, and green lights for drivers will also be five to eight seconds shorter.
The scramble concept, long ago implemented in several other cities around the world, is also known as a "Barnes dance," after Henry Barnes, a traffic commissioner in Denver credited with coming up with the idea there in the 1950s and reportedly making pedestrians so happy they were "dancing in the streets."
However, here in safety-conscious Toronto, the preferred term is "pedestrian priority phase," said John Mende, the city's director of traffic infrastructure management.
"The word 'scramble' gave the impression that it was a little too haphazard," Mr. Mende said in an interview.
He acknowledged that the new configuration - which costs $60,000 for new signals and curb and sidewalk modifications - will mean more queues and delays for drivers. But he said traffic officials believe the effects will be manageable and that the city would monitor the area's traffic closely.
While by no means a new idea - pedestrian scrambles have been tried in Tokyo, Montreal, San Francisco, Miami and elsewhere - the new emphasis on making life easier for the thousands of pedestrians that crowd this intersection every day will send a signal, said local city councillor Kyle Rae, who will attend an opening ceremony this morning.
"I think the city has made it clear over the last number of years that the No. 1 priority is pedestrians. No. 2 is transit, three is cyclists, and four is the car," Mr. Rae said. "... This is an experiment to see if pedestrians are able to benefit from this, and if we are able to get drivers to cope."
The city is also considering a handful of other pedestrian-heavy intersections for similar treatment, likely next year: Yonge and Bloor Streets, Bay Street and Bloor Street West, and Bay and Dundas.
The main rationale for the concept is improved safety, as it essentially eliminates the danger posed by cars turning into streams of pedestrians. However, all turns are already prohibited at Yonge and Dundas, so pedestrians at this intersection will also be allowed to cross when there is a green light for cars, as they always have. Mr. Mende acknowledged that launching the concept here was "symbolic," although important since the area has lots of foot traffic.
An amendment to the plan moved by Mr. Rae and passed by city council added Yonge and Dundas to the list of intersections originally drawn up by city traffic engineers.
Dylan Passmore, an activist with the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation, which promotes walking and cycling, welcomed the scramble.
However, he said the concept could backfire. For example, at other intersections that do allow cars to turn, if pedestrians are then forced to wait only for their special cycle to cross - even as drivers enjoy a green light - jaywalking could increase.
"The devil is in the details with these," said Mr. Passmore, who added that scramble intersections he saw in Sao Paulo, Brazil, were dismal failures. "It's not necessarily an improvement."
Picture of intersection (pedestrian chaos to be added later)
tribes.tribe.net/trulyuniq...f406339c44
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Re: Innovative, interesting not quite unique
Wed, September 3, 2008 - 6:30 PMthat's pretty cool!
(and the names are great: "pedestrian priority phase", "pedestrian scramble")
I like that
