Now Westminster is pursuing a path forward with the goal of addressing safety concerns in an area of Sapperton where a pedestrian was recently killed.
At its March 13 meeting, council received an on-table report related to a section of East Columbia Street near Cumberland Street.
A man in his 50s died on Sunday, Feb. 19 after being struck by the driver of a truck in the 100 block of East Columbia Street; after reviewing numerous videos and witness testimony, and thoroughly investigating and examining all evidence, New Westminster police concluded there was no evidence to support criminal charges against the driver.
Following the death, Mayor Patrick Johnstone and engineering director Lisa Leblanc said staff would be reviewing what could be done to improve safety in that area.
A report to council stated the process to be followed in the coming weeks and months will include two aspects – studying safety factors and interim modifications to the midblock area of East Columbia Street between Cumberland Street and Brunette Avenue/Debeck Street to prevent similar occurrences and looking into long-term improvement plan for the approaches to and intersection of East Columbia Street and Brunette Avenue/Debeck Street.
“Staff will proceed with a detailed, objective study of the area to identify interim measures that could be implemented relatively quickly … to better protect pedestrians from the possibility of falling or stepping off the sidewalk, or from motor vehicles crossing into the sidewalk, and to support cycling on East Columbia Street,” said the report.
Johnstone asked council to approach this subject with the sensitivity, noting a community member died at that location.
“Their friends and their family are still grieving, and others I know in the community are impacted,” he said. “I know the community wants to know what the city is doing to address safety at this location but I don't want people to be speculating causes when we don't really have information on that in front of us right now. So just want people to try to be respectful to the sensitivity of the situation when we have a conversation about this.”
On Monday, council directed staff to proceed with the next steps as outlined in this report. These steps include: engaging a consultant to serve as project manager; bringing all of the studies and concept designs together and formulating a plan for addressing safety issues and improving conditions for walking and cycling, including the provision of protected cycling facilities separated from the pedestrian facilities; conducting an objective safety assessment, including road design, and taking into account the needs, patterns and behaviour of motorists and of pedestrians and cyclists; and recommending a complete intersection improvement program.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine said a staff report stated that the intersection in question is not ranked in the Top 20 “most dangerous intersections” in New West. He questioned what would trigger capital investments on an intersection that’s not among the most dangerous in the city.
Lisa Leblanc, the city’s director of engineering and acting chief administrative officer, said intersection safety studies referenced in the staff report characterize and rank intersections based on statistical analysis of the crashes that have occurred there.
“To characterize them as most dangerous is one interpretation of that, But it's really a crash analysis,” she said. “And most dangerous has many, many implications.”
Leblanc said there are a number of ways that intersections not included in the top 20 ranking for high-crash locations make it into recommendations to council for funding, such as being included in various plans that have been conducted over a number of years. This includes the master transportation plan, the Sapperton Massey Victory Heights transportation plan, the active transportation network plan and transportation studies completed for the Brewery District and Royal Columbian hospital projects.
Leblanc said the list of the top 20 ranked intersections, as determined through the intersection safety study, will be released when that report is complete.
Asked about the time to do the work related to this initiative, Leblanc said the city needs to go through a competitive procurement process to hire a consultant.
“It’s sensitive work and it's technical work; that's a really challenging area,” she said. “So I anticipate that we will have a consultant on-boarded by within six weeks, seven weeks by the time we get a contract signed, and I would expect that their work will take, I would say a minimum of three to four weeks to get a preliminary report prepared. Depending upon what we hear from them, it may take longer to finalize a report.”
Leblanc expects the consultant will come back with a range recommendations and a list of implications associated with each recommendation. She noted that changes requiring support from TransLink or the province could take longer to implement than recommendations the city can implement on its own.
“I just I just support this path forward,” Johnstone said. “But I also do want to emphasize urgency here as much as we can … I don't want us to rush to do the wrong thing. But I do want us to be deliberate in doing the right thing here, to make the road safer as soon as we possibly can. So that's what I see in the report.”
