Pedestrians speak out about Edmonton’s plan to remove scramble crosswalks on Whyte Avenue | CBC News
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News that the City of Edmonton plans to remove three scramble crosswalks from its busiest entertainment and shopping district has some locals scrambling to make sense of it.
Scramble crosswalks — where pedestrians can walk north, south, east, west and diagonally all at the same time — were put in several years ago at Gateway Boulevard (103rd Street), Calgary Trail (104th Street) and 105th Street across Whyte Avenue, with the first one being installed in 2018.
At the time they were first installed, the city said the scramble crosswalks were intended to improve pedestrian safety and convenience.
“I’m very disappointed that they’re removing them,” said Coehn Dubrule, who lives in nearby Ritchie. “I think they make a lot of sense for these high-traffic areas.”
Others who go to the Whyte Avenue area on a less frequent basis also told CBC News they want to see them stay.
Chris Gutierrez said he comes to Whyte Avenue a couple of times a month and that he believes the scramble-style crosswalks are more efficient for pedestrians.
“I think they’re really good because of the fact that you could kind of go from one end to the other without having to do an L-shape and stuff like that to get to where you’ve got to go,” Gutierrez told CBC News on Tuesday. “It’s a lot better, I find. It’s more useful.”
Some pedestrians around Edmonton’s Whyte Avenue aren’t happy with the city’s plan to replace three scramble crosswalks with traditional intersections. This is in a bid to ease traffic flow along the busy corridor. The city councillor for the area wants more details on how the measures will help buses move more freely, while keeping pedestrians safe.
Switching back to traditional intersections is part of a new design to improve transit service by improving traffic flow for buses and other vehicles along the busy corridor, the city said in a statement it issued this week.
“Our approach is evolving to better meet the overall needs of everyone moving around the city, helping ensure the safety of pedestrians, while also improving the experience of other road users,” said Natalie Lazurko, the city’s director of transportation planning and design.
The plan includes widening sidewalks to narrow the road and reduce the crossing distance for pedestrians, and creating more space for people to get on and off buses safely and efficiently, the city said.
Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz said the coming changes stem from city council requesting options on how to get buses moving faster along Whyte Avenue.
“Because there are thousands and thousands of trips every day on the No. 4 and the No. 8 bus that get stuck in traffic,” Janz said in an interview with CBC News on Tuesday.
However, he said he supports the scramble crosswalks and will ask city administrators if there’s a way to preserve at least the one on 105th Street, or the one on Calgary Trail.
“This is part of a broader question about how do we move traffic, how do we move buses and how do we move people down Whyte Avenue,” Janz said. “These are very complex trade-offs.”
Lazurko said the city is finalizing the design for Whyte Avenue with construction work for the project anticipated to begin this summer.
Timelines for construction will be shared as the project progresses, Lazurko added.
It’s not just nearby residents and frequent visitors who said they appreciate the scrambles.
Marcus Blair was visiting a shop on Whyte Avenue on Tuesday — on foot, having driven in from west Edmonton.
“I love it,” he said of the scramble crosswalks. “I like to relate it to a traffic circle for drivers.
“If everybody can just cross all at once, it makes sense.”