There is a new feature on a Delta residential roadway some drivers may find unusual.
Several weeks ago, as part of an ongoing street safety improvement project, the city painted yellow “islands” along Wade Road in North Delta.
As part of a Sunshine Hills/Cougar Canyon neighbourhood traffic calming plan approved by council in 2004, a series of traffic calming devices were constructed along the road.
In 2014, additional traffic safety measures were undertaken to improve traffic safety adjacent to Wade Road Park including expanding the 30 km/h playground zone.
Last summer, Delta’s Transportation Advisory Committee discussed a further request for traffic calming.
The city subsequently decided to go ahead with more improvements including a raised pedestrian crosswalk in front of the park and upgrading the existing at grade pedestrian crosswalk at Nicholson Road to a raised crosswalk.
Median mounted delineator posts and painted median islands at all intersections along Wade Road were also to be added, measures to visually narrow the roadway with an anticipated reduction in speeds.
Meanwhile, Delta council recently endorsed a new Vision Zero traffic safety plan for the city, a comprehensive approach focused on reducing traffic related fatalities and serious injuries.
Years in the making, the strategy is based on collision data analysis, public and stakeholder feedback as well as technical assessment of various road safety initiatives. The new plan is to pay particular focus along major corridors and intersections.
Coun. Dylan Kruger at council’s meeting earlier this month described it as a data-driven approach, so, despite multiple requests for traffic calming, the city must establish priorities where the crash data tells the city where to invest.
“So, we can’t get sidetracked or distracted by other requests that come in, even if there’s good comments and good feedback. We have to take that within this Vision Zero approach…when we live in a world of finite dollars, and only a certain number of projects we can do a year, that means focusing those projects on reducing deaths, eliminating deaths and serious fatalities in our community. Every single road collision is preventable, and it can be prevented or mitigated through design,” he said.
