Safety Measures Tried On 25th Street

Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 15 July 2014 04:14
Vernon council has given the green light to traffic safety measures for a residential area. Some residents along 25th Street are concerned about speeding vehicles using their road to go north or south, instead of 27th Street. Councillor Brian Quiring says crosswalks will be added at three key intersections as a first step. "Then we want to look at ways to encourage people to use 27th as the north south connector as opposed to using 25th, and we will revisit it in a year and reevaluate how the crosswalks are working," says Quiring. Quiring says some of the problem is from truckers using 25th to go to and from Home Hardware, and he made a motion to work with the store to encourage the trucks to use 27th. Mayor Rob Sawatzky says it's a good first step. "It's a wise way to go about things. Lots of problems aren't solved in one visit. You start, and you work at them, and get them to where they should be," he says. 63% of the residents in the project area support the traffic management measures.
-------
Traffic calming measures proceed for Vernon neighbourhood
by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star posted Jul 15, 2014 at 6:00 AM
Traffic calming is proceeding in a Vernon neighbourhood but not to the extent originally proposed. City council decided Monday to install crosswalks at three sections of 25th Street as a way of slowing down motorists and enhancing pedestrian safety. “It’s a first step to make that community safer,” said Coun. Brian Quiring. However, other measures such as possibly right-in and right-out access at intersections are on hold until at least 2015. “There are other things we want to consider,” said Quiring. “We are doing the right thing by looking at it further.” The city required 66 per cent support from residents in the immediate neighbourhood for the entire traffic management plan but that fell short at 63 per cent. As a result, staff recommended crosswalks at this time and going back to the residents next year to see how effective the crosswalks have been and if more needs to be done to control motorists. Council has also instructed staff to take immediate steps to contact some of the nearby businesses who generate through traffic on 25th Street. “A significant amount of traffic and problem is coming from trucks and contractors (for local businesses),” said Quiring. “We need to look at how to deal with that.”