Keating Ave. four-way stop to revert back to two-way following Town traffic study
The town council of Fort Frances has passed a motion to revert the recently installed four-way stop sign at Keating and 1st Ave. back to a two way stop intersection, after a traffic study revealed that traffic levels don’t justify a four-way stop.
In October, council had accepted a staff recommendation to install the temporary four-way stop as a pilot, while a traffic study was conducted. The recommendation was initiated after a presentation by local business owner Jordan DeGagne, who lives nearby and felt the intersection was unsafe for young pedestrians, crossing before and after school.
Eliminating the four-way stop brings the intersection into alignment with Ministry of Transportation Ontario guidelines, according to the administrative report to council
To follow within guidelines, an intersection must exceed 200 vehicles per hour for each of the highest four hours of the day. As well, the combined vehicle and pedestrian volume in the minor street (1st Street West) must exceed 75 units per hour for the same four-hour period.
According to the study conducted by staff on April 24, the intersection met those thresholds for two hours, with 232 vehicles and 94 combined volume between 8 and 9 a.m., and 203 vehicles and 99 combined volume between 3 and 4 p.m.
The MTO manual also directs municipalities to not use four-way stops under conditions where “the protection of pedestrians, school children in particular, is a prime concern and the concern
cannot be directly addressed by other means.”
The intersection won’t undergo a full reversal; Administration included a plan to add a painted crosswalk along the east-west corridor and install “appropriate signage.”
Over the long term, sidewalks will be installed in partnership with both school boards, to facilitate the movement of students heading from JW Walker to the daycare in St Mary School, and a sidewalk along the north side of First Street West from Keating to Flinders, to facilitate students heading to Second Street West.
Councillor Mandy Olson brought up the issue of children’s safety as there are groups of children crossing each way at different times of the day. She recommended that the changes to the intersection be done after the school year is over to keep children safe.
“Kids aren’t getting a safe place to cross the road,” said Olson. “it’s a traffic jam, especially on the corner, especially on 2nd”.
Councillors shared their views around establishing bylaws that are data driven. Their views differed when it came to decide whether a broader policy should regulate new traffic signage proposals.
“I think it would be difficult to create a policy that covered every particular circumstance”, said councillor Wendy Brunetta.
Louis Bergeron, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Fort Frances Times
