Further to my question the other day regarding the safety of the new intersection design at Victoria Drive & Adanac Street, I have received a response from Ross Kenny, Senior Transportation Design Engineer, City of Vancouver.
“There is a plan for a painted crosswalk and yellow paint on the median, however, we are waiting for the weather to improve before our crews are able to go out and do the painting. We have heard a handful of complaints regarding the visibility of the median and we are following up with the installation of reflectors on the widest part of the median to make it more visible for drivers. There was also a short period of time after installation that the street light at the intersection was out, which has now been fixed.
The design of the center median is based on a median design that was implemented 5 years ago at the intersection of Kaslo and Dundas Streets. There are a number of center medians that were installed on Dundas Street which is similar in character to Victoria. Generally we hear that the medians have made it easier to cross the street as pedestrians and cyclists only have to ensure that 1 direction of traffic has stopped before they are able to enter the road. They also cost significantly less than a traffic signal and have the added benefit of slowing traffic, which has been a long-standing request on Victoria Drive.
We will be reviewing the design and making changes to reflect the feedback we receive and using this knowledge on future projects.”
I’ll be passing this on to the residents who wrote to me about this issue. Anyone who wants to respond directly to Mr. Kenny should write to him at Ross.Kenny@vancouver.ca. I will also keep a watching brief on this and please let me know of any further incidents.
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