Seaton Village is about to try out a new kind of traffic calming.
Ever since last year's construction on Bathurst north of Dupont prompted people to find alternate routes, Barton, a formerly quiet residential street running east-west between Bathurst and Christie, has gotten busy.
"About a year and a half ago we got a request from a number of parents at Palmerston school, most of whom walk their kids to school along Barton," says Councillor Adam Vaughan. "They were wondering what we could do to get a handle on the traffic situation."
Barton already had speed bumps and reduced speed limits, and residents didn't want no-turn signs reducing their own access to the street. So on a walk through, the councillor noticed the parking patterns on the street, which alternated north and south every block. It reminded him of a idea that had been presented at a
pedestrian conference he had attended in The Hague.
"We decided to zig zag every half block," he says, "so there were essentially pinch points created mid-block that made people slow down."
The only expense associated with the plan is the $60-$70 per block needed for signs, which will be going up this week.
Vaughan says they'll revisit the situation next year to see how it's working, but he's confident they've found a solution that may end up being a model to the rest of the city.
"
Jane Jacobs said it in one of her books," he says, "the only thing that slows cars down is other cars."
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Adam Vaughan
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