ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — St. John’s city council will make a preliminary decision Wednesday on whether to make the Rawlins Cross pilot traffic configuration permanent, as recommended by city staff.
The "unsignalized traffic circulation" has been criticized from the start by a number of groups, including disability rights advocates and some parents of nearby Bishop Feild Elementary students. Their main cause of concern is pedestrian safety.
The city has now analyzed accident data from the province and compiled a report with recommendations which is available on the city’s website.
The Telegram filed an Access to Information request for the data, but was denied. Also included in The Telegram’s access request was a request for any documents and emails sent to and from city staff and officials pertaining to the accident data, including any analysis on the data.
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The Telegram was told by the city that the request for data could not be disclosed as per an information sharing agreement between the city and Service Newfoundland and Labrador, and that in any case, the data is held on a series of small database files that “use a proprietary encoding and can only be read properly by the database software used by the city and the province.”
Any other documents related to the data were also denied, with the city citing sections 29 and 35 of the Access to Information and Protection Privacy Act (ATIPPA) which deal with policy advice or recommendations, and disclosure that may be harmful to the financial or economic interests of a public body.
However, the report published to the city’s website on Friday contains references to the data.
Anecdotes not reported
The report says collision data was assessed over an eight-year period from January 2012 to December 2019. Data from January 2012 to August 2018 — 80 months — is before the pilot project was implemented. Data from September 2018 to December 2019 — 16 months — is after implementation.
The report says it would be ideal to have three to five years of ‘after’ data to have a robust evaluation, but a short-term pilot project “precludes such a long data collection period.”
Altogether there was 148 collisions before implementation and 14 after. This includes four pedestrian collisions during the eight-year period before implementation, and one pedestrian collision during the roughly one-year period after implementation.
"While not part of the data analysis, the experience of individuals involved in unreported incidents is valid and should not be dismissed.” — Rawlins Cross pilot traffic report
Looking at all types of collisions, the report says seven per cent of all collisions no longer involve an injury, a drop of 25 per cent compared to collision data prior to the pilot project.
The report says minor incidents do happen that are not reported to police or do not warrant a police file; these incidents are absent from the data.
“Unfortunately, many anecdotes about safety rely on these unreported incidents,” reads the report.
“Because nothing is reported there can be no objective conclusions drawn from anecdotes such as this. While not part of the data analysis, the experience of individuals involved in unreported incidents is valid and should not be dismissed.”
City staff recommends: proceeding with the permanent traffic circle configuration; including the closed portion of Military Road, the existing parking lot and green space within the centre of Rawlins Cross in the scope for public space design; and expanding the Key2Access (accessible intersection technology) pilot project to include the two crosswalks currently equipped with flashing beacons.
The Rawlins Cross Traffic Pilot Project report is available online in the Committee of the Whole agenda & will be discussed by Council at an upcoming meeting on Wed, March 11.
— City of St. John's (@CityofStJohns) March 6, 2020
PSA: https://t.co/lxTPX4cAwS
Agenda: https://t.co/2oyjBCyHF0 #nltraffic pic.twitter.com/AlFX4MRQcu
$1M to make configuration permanent
The report says a provisional budget of $1 million has been identified to address the changes required to make the configuration permanent.
Following the committee’s discussion and recommendation, the report will then be referred to a future city council meeting for a final vote.
If the city decides to install the traffic circle permanently, the next step will be a request for proposals for design services.
The report says “significant changes to the design of the area would occur with the express intent of further improving safety and addressing community concerns.” City advisory groups such as the inclusion advisory committee, and people who live in and travel through the area “will play a key role in providing input to the design process,” the report reads.
On March 5, city staff presented the report to the inclusion advisory committee who passed a resolution endorsing the recommendation for a permanent installation with “two caveats related to continued consultation and winter maintenance,” the report says.
Twitter: @juanitamercer_