St. John’s city council made some preliminary decisions Thursday that could improve the Rawlins Cross intersection.
After council voted in March to reject making the traffic circle pilot project permanent, councillors asked staff to review the layout and see what other improvements could be made.
During Thursday’s committee of the whole meeting, council approved the changes suggested by transportation engineering staff.
Decisions made during committee meetings require final approval at an upcoming regular council meeting, typically in two weeks’ time.
Changes include improving curb ramps, minor adjustments to street alignment and traffic islands, and reviewing pavement markings.
That includes a realignment in the approach of Flavin Street at Prescott Street to make it more perpendicular and therefore improve sightlines and shorten the crossing distance at Flavin; a larger traffic island at Prescott Street and Queen’s Road to shorten pedestrian crossings; a right-of-way change assigning the obligation to yield to the northbound Prescott Street approach at the Queen’s Road intersection; and a two-staged marked crosswalk on Monkstown Road that will involve widening and realigning the traffic island on Monkstown.
No timeline was given for when the changes might be made, other than it is dependent on the road rehabilitation schedule.
Some other possible changes were explored, but after some investigation staff recommended against them, including closing the middle section of Military Road and providing a "prepare to stop" traffic signal warning on Queen’s Road.
Staff said closing a section of Military Road would introduce right-of-way conflicts, lead to gridlock conditions, and create new safety and capacity concerns for all road users.
They said a "prepare to stop" signal would cost roughly $70,000 and there is no evidence that a lack of awareness underlies the collision issues at the intersection.
Juanita Mercer reports on municipal politics in St. John’s.
