This project aims to install a crosswalk to provide increased safety for pedestrians crossing a high volume collector roadway.
Since completion of the multifamily complex in 2020, the City has requests for improved pedestrian and cycling infrastructure at the corner of Warren Ave and Baskin Street. These requests list concerns including but not limited to vehicle speeds, crosswalk awareness, and impaired sight lines.
As prescribed in the City of Penticton’s Official Community Plan, City staff have been given direction to prioritize active modes of transportation (like walking and cycling) and transit, which offer significant social, environmental, economic and health benefits. The goal is to provide for ease of mobility regardless of how you choose or are able to get around, where you live, your income or your age. To aid in this, we’ve begun shifting our mindset of designing roads first and foremost for single-use vehicles. Priority is given to active modes of transportation and how we go about implementing infrastructure that provides accessibility and safety for those user groups. Many times, this results in a need to reduce vehicular speeds to lower the frequency and severity of accidents. In this particular case, we have a vulnerable user group in the form of students travelling to and from school each day, many of which utilize active modes of transportation. By reducing speeds via traffic calming we also discourage the use of this road as a short cut through a residential neighbourhood, thus reducing traffic volumes as well. Additional funding provided by the Vision Zero Program will allow us to implement a solution that will make our community safer as well as promote a more sustainable lifestyle.
