Phase 2 Summary & Wrapup

Update July 23, 2021:
Thank you for your interest in the St Andrews Safety Improvements project. Our Phase 2 public engagement period has closed and we’re reviewing the input we received from the community. We’ll be sharing what we heard and presenting the final design for the traffic calming measures in September.

In April 2021, we reached out to the community about our plans to make safety improvements along St Andrews between Keith Road and 13th Street. This section of St Andrews is a wide, local street that is well-used by pedestrians, a designated bike route and an important connection to the Green Necklace, Lions Gate Hospital and other amenities. Our goal is to provide a safer, more comfortable experience for all road users.

Many of you shared your experience on St Andrews and what would make it safer and more enjoyable. The most common theme we heard was that excess vehicle speed is a concern.

Our traffic data analysis indicates that since the implementation of the 30km/r speed limit in this area, vehicle speeds have reduced slightly, but still remain over the speed limit. While traffic volumes have also declined slightly, volumes south of 10th Street are still higher than the guidelines set for a local road and bicycle route.

Proposed Design

We’ve developed a proposed design for St Andrews that addresses the issue of excess speed while achieving our design goals of creating a safer street for everyone.

The proposed design includes:

Narrowing the vehicle travel lanes, along with lower speed limits, can promote a greater sense of speed awareness among drivers and force drivers to slow down when passing someone travelling in the opposite direction. Narrower lanes also create shorter crossing distances for pedestrians at intersections, which reduces the risk of an accident. Narrowing the road will also allow us to reallocate some road space to create a northbound separated mobility lane.

Mobility lanes accommodate a range of human-powered micro-mobility options such as bikes, scooters, e-bikes, cargo bikes, and skateboards.
Northbound, a separated lane for slower uphill cyclists will provide increased comfort and safety, and reduce conflict between cyclists and vehicles. Parking will be located between the vehicle lane and the mobility lane.
Southbound, cyclists and micro mobility users will share the lane with vehicles. Parking will remain in the current location.

Two raised crosswalks are proposed at the following locations:
- North side of 9^th Street and St Andrews – this crossing is part of the Ridgeway ‘Safe Routes to School’ route
- South side of 8^th Street and St Andrews – this crossing sees a high volume of pedestrian traffic
Both of these locations currently have regular crosswalks. Raised crosswalks create safer crossings by helping to slow traffic and by drawing attention to the crosswalk.