ANTIGONISH COUNTY: The warden of the Municipality of the County of Antigonish says council still would like to see a crosswalk be installed in the Mount Cameron vicinity.
“Where [Highway] 337 enters into the Mount Cameron area, we’ve made a number of requests for a crosswalk to tie the property of Mount Cameron and the property toward Bethany together,” Owen McCarron said following the county’s regular, monthly council meeting on April 18. “It’s been denied a number of times, however a letter from Minister Masland has given us some hope, because we’re trying to create an opportunity in a safe spot.”
He suggested municipal staff are continuing to try to get consideration on the crosswalk, however they have been unsuccessful to date.
During open council, CAO Glenn Horne, read a response to council’s correspondence from Feb. 2, requesting a speed study and an installation of a sidewalk at Highway 337.
“The operative section, local staff have committed to complete another speed review, and will review pedestrian counts when the weather improves, as understood trail development is an important initiative with the municipality and connectivity across Route 337 is desirable. Local staff will continue to work with you to explore options and look for a possible solution that will satisfy pedestrian movement in the area.”
District 7 Councillor John Dunbar, questioned the province’s resistance to installing crosswalks, and asked if they had certain requirements.
“There are requirements and they refer to it in this letter, around the Transportation Association of Canada guidelines for pedestrians cross and control,” Horne said. “While they are supposed to categorize and provide guidance on a wide variety of settings, our experience is they very much cater towards urban centres and makes it challenging to see some of these crossings put into rural locations.”
Another problem they experience, the CAO said, was a bit of chicken-and-egg, as the guidelines would suggest you don’t put a standardize crossing in that location until the pedestrian traffic justifies it, but notes pedestrian traffic won’t come unless there’s a safe crossing.
“They’ll review the speed coming into that area. It’s an 80 km/h zone, coming in and then it drops to 50 km/h, but traffic doesn’t tend to slow down until they’re sort of on top of the hill going down towards St. Martha’s Regional Hospital,” McCarron said. “If they do another review, then they might see the value in adjusting the speed-zone back, and then creating an opportunity.”