Nelson has a growing population of vulnerable demographics including seniors and children and the City is looking to improve two key points of potential conflict for these groups. The project will pilot improvements at two key intersections on two high volume streets for drivers and pedestrians. Both intersections are key access points for seniors and young students accessing a new seniors assisted living facility currently under construction and Wildflower Elementary School (WES). WES sees a high volume of young students travelling across the identified intersection at peak traffic times and sightlines at this location are very poor. The project will add Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) at each of the intersections on both sides to increase the visibility of all pedestrians and reduce potential conflict specifically for these vulnerable groups. Both intersections will receive bi-directional RRFBs, crosswalks, signage, and curb extensions will be piloted with more cost-effective flexible bollards.
Both of the proposed intersection improvement pilots have strong potential to both reduce injury and save lives of two vulnerable pedestrian demographics in Nelson.
There are high volumes of young children travelling across the Stanley St. & Carbonate St. intersection to reach Wildflower Elementary School in the morning and afternoon. Stanley Street is a high volume arterial street in Nelson used by many drivers for their daily commute. With the steep grade of the street, drivers often gain speed and have less time to react to students looking to cross this intersection to the school. Elementary students are also small and are not easily seen by drivers passing by. Additionally, there is not an existing crosswalk at this location so drivers do not expect students to be needing to cross. This issue of steep grades gets exacerbated by slick winter driving conditions. With this potential for conflict growing, this crossing pattern needs to be much more conspicuous. RRFBs will allow pedestrians to alert drivers and make their crossing of the street much more noticeable. The crosswalk will also alert drivers and create an expectation of pedestrians here. Piloting curb extensions will allow pedestrians to safely move further into the intersection to be seen by drivers before being directly in the line of conflict. These enhancements will make this crossing much safer for all user groups.
Vernon Street is a very wide arterial street in Nelson that hosts high volumes of motor vehicle traffic throughout the day. The crossing identified has poor sightlines and is difficult to cross for the most capable of pedestrians - often stepping out into traffic being unsure if they are seen by drivers or not. With many businesses on the street, there is currently high pedestrian traffic. With the construction of a new 125 unit seniors assisted living facility directly adjacent to this crossing that will also host 5-6 new commercial businesses, pedestrian traffic across Vernon St. is expected to increase significantly. Improvements are therefore required to serve all pedestrians and specifically the vulnerable seniors to be using this crossing. The RRFBs, crosswalks, paint, and bollards to be added will significantly increase visibility of pedestrians trying to cross and will drastically reduce the potential of conflict with motor vehicles.
Both of these projects strongly align with Nelson's Active Transportation Implementation Plan to identify problem intersections within the City and pilot safety projects. Additionally, building equity of Nelson's transportation network is a key priority of the plan and of City Staff. Prioritizing safety measures for more vulnerable demographics is essential to increasing equity of the system.
