ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A motion to make the Rawlins Cross unsignalized traffic circulation pilot project permanent lost in a 4-7 city council vote Monday afternoon.
Councillors Sandy Hickman, Dave Lane, Maggie Burton and Ian Froude voted in agreement with city staff recommendations to make the configuration permanent.
However, Mayor Danny Breen, Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’Leary, and councillors Debbie Hanlon, Deanne Stapleton, Hope Jamieson, Jamie Korab and Wally Collins voted against making it permanent.
City staff will now decide the next steps, and will come back to council with suggestions.
“Rejecting this doesn’t necessarily mean going back to exactly what was there before. So, there may be some changes made, and there may be some modifications,” Breen told reporters after the meeting.
He said there may be some minor changes made, but he’s pleased that the traffic lights will be put back to use.
“I think in that area, for people to be able to cross properly, the traffic has to be stopped and that requires lights,” said Breen.
Rhona Buchan is an area resident and vocal advocate to make the area safer for pedestrians. She said she was “very happy” that traffic lights will be returned to Rawlins Cross.
“I appreciated the comments of Councillor Korab in particular who had clearly given the report careful, independent analysis and consideration. He recognized the weakness in the data that purported to support the pilot.”
Buchan was referring to a report compiled by city traffic engineers based on a study of the area and accident data which led staff to recommend making the pilot configuration permanent.
The report says collision data was assessed over an eight-year period from January 2012 to December 2019. Data from January 2012 to August 2018 — 80 months — is before the pilot project was implemented. Data from September 2018 to December 2019 — 16 months — is after implementation.
The report says it would be ideal to have three to five years of "after" data to have a robust evaluation, but a short-term pilot project “precludes such a long data collection period.”
Altogether there were 148 collisions before implementation and 14 after. This includes four pedestrian collisions during the eight-year period before implementation, and one pedestrian collision during the roughly one-year period after implementation.
Korab pointed out that means a decline in safety for pedestrians and a marginal improvement for vehicles.
Collins said the area used traffic lights for decades before the pilot project without any deaths reported, and he worried if council changes it now and someone gets killed, people will wonder why council changed it at all.
However, Froude said he was “uncomfortable” shifting back to the previous design with a red light scenario because it increases the likelihood of right angle, or T-bone, collisions.
Burton noted the pilot project saw lower vehicular speeds and reduced collisions.
Coun. Lane said the analysis done by city staff was extensive, and the pilot was focused on making the area safer and more convenient for all road users.
“If we were to revert back, and someone were to be injured, I would feel very guilty that we had not heeded the advice of experts,” he said.
Meanwhile, Buchan hopes the city learns from the pilot project.
“Ideally it would be great to see the marginal improvement in vehicular safety preserved, while also protecting pedestrians with the traffic lights.
“The primary enhancement to vehicular safety appears to have come from blocking off the centre portion of Military Road. Ideally, I would like to see the city explore a design that incorporates traffic lights and keeps the centre of Military blocked off. They could try using traffic lights to stop traffic in all directions at once, allowing all pedestrians to cross at once.”
Another area resident, Rob Brown, said if the city had meaningful community engagement in the first place, “then maybe we would be closer to a workable solution that is a good compromise for all.”
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