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Earlier this week a group of business operators pleaded with City Council to reconsider our decision to build a roundabout at the intersection of Allen Street and Mt. Edward Road. Notable for their absence was D.P. Murphy Inc, who have had their share of traffic problems at this intersection. I’ll take their absence as approval or at least acceptance.

Those present gave a list of concerns ranging from a perceived negative impact on their business (e.g. if drivers do not stop at a light, they will not notice the surrounding businesses), to pedestrian and vehicle safety, congestion, stacking, cost, and a simple lack of confidence that Islander drivers will ever figure out how to navigate a roundabout. Some who had sold small strips of land to the City to enable upgrades to the intersection felt misled because they understood the only option under consideration was a lighted intersection. As the Mayor stated very sincerely on the radio this morning there was certainly no intention to mislead. As this Guardian story from January makes clear (Charlottetown investigates roundabout for Mount Edward-Allen Street facelift), the roundabout option has been under consideration for many months.

Traffic engineers hired by the City gave what I felt were very convincing responses to most of the concerns. They have done their homework with regard to the roundabout option, including research, computer simulations, and careful design. We are taking their advice on this one. Do I worry that it will not work out as well as expected? Yes. Do I think this is the ideal intersection to build our first roundabout? Possibly it isn’t. But if it works well here, which I’m increasingly confident it will, it will bode well for converting some of our other lighted intersections to roundabouts in the future.

Modern roundabouts offer many benefits to lighted intersections (traffic flow, environmental, and yes… safety) and conversion to roundabouts is a growing trend in North America. I came across this article today called The rise of the modern roundabout.

Some notable quotes I felt were relevant to our local discussion:

“When construction started, there was quite an outpouring of concern,”

“It was something new, and people were nervous. But as they’ve gotten used to the roundabouts, they’ve realized the benefits. The traffic moves quicker and flows pretty freely; very rarely is there any type of stacking or backup.”

“The result was less congestion and fewer accidents, especially when compared with traffic signals, where drivers often accelerated to race through and avoid red lights.”

Another good article here: Roundabouts: reducing traffic frustration

I’ve just recently discovered that the City purchased — at least a year ago — a dozen GPS units and a license to Grey Island Systems’ InterFleet application for the purpose of tracking the City’s snow plow fleet. Public Works staff have been tinkering with the system but it has not been fully deployed. The intention is to eventually have a public-facing map on the City’s website that shows the location of all the plows in real-time.

Staff have access to a wider array of functionality such as vehicle history that would theoretically allow staff to respond when told, “Your plow knocked off my car’s side-view mirror last night on Ambrose Street”, by saying “Actually, there were no snow plows on Ambrose Street last night”, which may or may not be the basis for another complaint. I haven’t actually seen the product in action yet, and by all accounts this project has fallen off the radar somewhat, so I plan to stick my geeky nose into this business and find out what exactly we’ve purchased and how (or if) it can be put to good use.

Last fall, the manager of Public Works asked all councillors for a wish list of capital projects for 2008. My list included, among other things, new sidewalk construction for Ward 3. Based partly on the feedback I got while campaigning in 2006, and partly on my own observations around the ward I identified a need on Edinburgh Drive (between Colonel Gray and Charlotte), and on Trafalgar Drive (between Riverview and Nassau).

I’m happy to report that both of these requests have been approved by council. These represent a signficant share of the total new sidewalk construction for 2008. If you have any questions or concerns before the work begins, likely in the summer, please let me know.

Edinburgh, which is essentially an extension of Goodwill, is the major north-south road through the neighbourhoods west of North River Road in Ward 3. The new sidewalk will cover the only three-block stretch without a sidewalk all the way from Brighton Road in the south, to the north end of Edinburgh at Maplewood Drive. This is a busy stretch of road with relatively high pedestrian traffic. There are students walking to school, and many walkers/joggers on their way to and from Victoria Park. Because it’s such a neighbourhood thoroughfare, I’ve heard many complaints about speeding on Edinburgh. Last year I had new “Kids Playing” and speed limit signage posted on request of a resident. There has been a definite safety concern here, so it’s a perfect place for a new sidewalk.

Trafalgar is another example of a sidewalk extending only halfway up the street. There is an existing sidewalk between Kirkwood and Riverview Drive, but then it stops. The Spring Park Church on Trafalgar is home to the Spring Park School of Early Learning and the Emmanuel Christian School. Spring Park Elementary is around the corner, and Colonel Gray High and Queen Charlotte Intermediate are nearby. This is a school zone by any definition. There’s no reason for Trafalgar to have half a sidewalk.

I’ve been receiving a steady stream of complaints about the snow plowing/removal in my ward since last week’s heavy snowfall. I had noticed myself that the service did not seem up to snuff, but the full extent of the problem has only become apparent to me over the last two days. There are some streets in the ward that have only seen one pass of the plow since the last storm. Some streets are still only one lane wide, and some still have sidewalks buried under three feet of snow, having not seen a sidewalk plow yet! This is apparently not the case in the other wards where there have been very few, if any, complaints. This is unacceptable and I’ve been working very hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Councillor Bernard, who is Chair of the Public Works Committee has been very helpful in tracking down the operational issues and he assures me we can expect better in the future.