Crossing at a Yield

When you are going out for a walk and have to cross a main road at an intersection. Most cases you will come across a yield or a merge where you have to cross it before you can actually get to the intersection. Unfortunately a lot of these yields or merges don’t have crosswalk signs and some drivers won’t stop for people to cross (some do but not enough). The two main places that come to mind right now that I have trouble with are Southbound Lakewood Blvd merge to Westbound Bishop Grandin and Southbound Archibald St merge to Westbound Fermor Ave. At these locations I always have to wait a long time before I can cross, a lot of times I’ve waited until the 10th car decided to stop! I’ve only been in a few moments where something bad could have happened but thank goodness it was just close calls. One of them was when I was starting to crossing the Former Ave yield to Lakewood Blvd because it looked like the driver was stopped for me but turns out he wasn’t stopped for me but was actually checking for cars so he starting driving but the slammed on his brakes and luckily I noticed right away so I wouldn’t of got hit anyway. Later that week something else happened but this I didn’t start crossing but the I guess driver thought I was about to cross without looking but just as was turning to look the driver slammed on the brakes(I was crossing the Southbound Westmount Dr yield to Former Ave and continue down Niakwa Trail along Former).

Lakewood Blvd at Bishop Grandin Blvd

Archibald St at Former Ave

Even though there is no crosswalk sign, people still need to be able to cross but I do notice more drivers let people cross when crossing sign is at other yields. Such as St. Anne’s Rd at Bishop Grandin Blvd but only two of the four corners have a crosswalk sign.

Northbound St Anne’s Rd to Eastbound Bishop Grandin Blvd

 Hopefully more safety measures in place in the future and keep aware when going out because you never know who is paying attention.

Crosswalk Visibility

When going for a walk to work or school or just for enjoyment, chances are you’ll need a place to cross the street or road. Most likely you will pick a spot where drivers will see you the best like a crosswalk or intersection where is safe. Intersections may not be close enough to where you have to go so you cross at a crosswalk ( if one is their) but not all crosswalks are safe. When it comes to good crosswalk visibility, it should be well indicated with signage and painted lines. Crosswalks with not so good visibility doesn’t have any of the indicators. Below are some of the crosswalks i’ve crossed over the years, some are not so good and some are good…

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Crosswalks with good visibility:

(Dakota St is the winner here)

Meadowbrook Rd at Lakewood Blvd

Dakota St at Jonathan Toews Community Centre

Meadowood Dr at Victor H L Wyatt School

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 Crosswalks with not so good visibility:

(Crosswalks I believe should be upgraded)

Royal Salinger Rd at Pebble Beach Rd

Farnham Rd at Beaverhill Blvd

Knightsbridge Dr at Meadowood Dr

Tyrone Bay at St Michael Rd

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 Jubilee Ave is a great example of a crosswalk with high visibility because of the wide strips like on the Beatles cover with a controlled flashing light system. This makes it very safe for pedestrians but there is a hidden unsafe factor for people who can’t reach or press the button. For instance when I cross at one of these crosswalks I can’t push the button so when I do try to cross I have to wait a longer time because drivers are expecting the lights to go on and not really watching for someone to cross. Luckily lots of people cross here so chances are I can just cross at the  same time. If they had lower button I could just use my foot rest or part of my power wheelchair. One time on St. Mary’s Rd I was trying to cross at a controlled crosswalk and someone stopped for me so I’m thankful for that. Also I sometimes just wait 5 or 10 mins for someone that is also crossing but that doesn’t always work.

Jubilee Ave at Bridge Drive-in ( my favourite ice cream shop )

Crosswalks should be a safe and comfortable places to cross the roadway or street.

Where Cumberland Ave Meets Donald St

Donald Street is well-known to Downtown Winnipeg because it goes through the SHED district and past Broadway as well as Osborne Village. In the last few years Donald St has seen sidewalk upgrades South of Stradbrook Ave and around the MTS Centre. Overall most of Donald St is in decent shape but some key spots still need attention. One spot that I’ll be talking about today is where Cumberland Ave converts into Donald St which is just North of Ellice Ave. During busy times vehicle traffic gets congestion from yielding to Donald St traffic and pedestrians.

Line up of Cumberland Ave traffic yielding to merge with Donald St traffic

This part needs improvements not only for pedestrian but also for vehicles. For pedestrians you have a crosswalk that doesn’t have a proper slopes and the roadway is falling apart. It’s set up in an awkward way that people just cross the more direct path through the grass.

Approaching the yield at Donald St

I think if the crosswalk was realign a bit to the North and more direct and if the yield was turn into a duel yield that reduce the amount of inpatient drivers (not that all drivers are, just some are) from waiting in the line up to get on Donald St as well as added a crosswalk to get across Donald St. Hopefully one day this area will get fixed and improved for safer and more appealing intersection.

My design of Cumberland at Donald (using Google Earth): Red lines is  roadway and white lines is sidewalk

Sidewalk Condition of River Road

Today I will be talking about the good and the bad of River Rd which is the Westside of St. Vital. I’m going to start with the good: 2005 the city completed the section of sidewalk north of Parkville Dr to St. Vital Rd.  With this completion of section means the full length of the roadway is now connected one end to the other by sidewalk. River Road is beautify surround by trees like most places in Winnipeg and has nice places to visit such as the the Riel House or St. Vital Park. River Rd is also connected to Bishop Grandin Trail. The bad things I noticed about the sidewalk is only on one side for the most part. This may not be that bad for other roadways but this roadway has driveways with busy traffic and multiple crossing points. If River Road had sidewalks on the both sides would reduce the amount of crossing for people. These are things the city should consider when they decide to build an AT bridge to the U of M (that’s if they decide to connect it to River Rd) in the future.

Sidewalk Crossing to Nowhere

On a nice mid July day I went for a stroll in St Vital and when I made my way down Pulberry St it was all good because the street was recently redone. But when I got closer to St Michael Rd the sidewalk wasn’t as good of conditions as the redone part of Pulberry.  From St Michael to about a block or two of Pulberry doesn’t have a  sidewalk on the Westside (only has a sidewalk on the Eastside). What doesn’t make sense is you have to cross St Michael on the Westside of Pulberry on a driveway ( that’s the only way for someone in a wheelchair to get across). What the city needs to do is build at least a sidewalk crossing on the Eastside on the other side of St Micheal Road

Eastside Pulberry Street looking toward St Micheal Road

Looking North to Eastside sidewalk of Pulberry Street