{"id":230,"date":"2009-10-17T09:54:36","date_gmt":"2009-10-17T12:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingatlantic.ca\/?p=230"},"modified":"2009-10-20T13:35:24","modified_gmt":"2009-10-20T16:35:24","slug":"walk-dont-walk-scramble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/","title":{"rendered":"Walk, Don&#8217;t Walk, Scramble?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg\" alt=\"Grafton and Queen Intersection\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>CHARLOTTETOWN<\/strong> &#8211; The macabre dance of pedestrians and automobiles is a time honoured tradition.\u00a0 Ever since Bridget Driscol was killed by a car in 1896, the deadly duo of auto and intersection has struck fear into the hearts of traffic planners and pedestrians everywhere.\u00a0 The reality is, of course, that traffic planning is as much art as it is science, which is why Charlottetown is revisiting the idea of a pedestrian scramble.<\/p>\n<p>The intersection of Grafton and Queen street, bordered by the Confederation Centre of the Arts and Confederation Court Mall, and down the street from both city hall and the provincial legislature, is stirring up controversy with the possible return of its pedestrian scramble.\u00a0 Also known as a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pedestrian_scramble\">Barnes&#8217; Dance<\/a>, a scramble was introduced in Toronto last year at the corner of Yonge and Dundas.\u00a0 Beautifully documented in a <a href=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/wire\/2008\/08\/29\/pedestrian-scramble-time-lapse\/\" target=\"_blank\">time-lapse sequence<\/a> by photoblogger <a href=\"http:\/\/wvs.topleftpixel.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Javanrouh<\/a> on Spacing Atlantic&#8217;s sister site, <a href=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/wire\/\">Spacing Toronto<\/a>, the scramble belays its more common title and suggests a more graceful choreography.\u00a0 Henry A. Barnes, often incorrectly credited with inventing the scramble, even to the extent of it bearing his name, said, at a September 1951 conference, &#8220;&#8230;a downtown shopper needed a four-leaf clover, a voodoo charm, and a St. Christopher&#8217;s medal to make it in one piece from one curbstone to the other.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Thus the conundrum facing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.city.charlottetown.pe.ca\/mayorandcouncil.php\">Rob Lantz<\/a>, Charlottetown city councillor for ward 3 and chair of the Police and Bylaw Enforcement Committee.\u00a0 Though Charlottetown is the provincial capital it is generally devoid of the traffic problems that face other capital cities.\u00a0 In spite of furor around the suggestion that Grafton and Queen could be primed for another scramble, Lantz suggests that &#8220;we approach the &#8216;scramble&#8217; idea very cautiously&#8221; examining both the benefits and drawbacks to this 60s flashback.\u00a0 Though Lantz did not know why the scramble at this corner was discontinued some time in the late 60s, his caution is justified.\u00a0 The Economic Development Committee, working with an advisory group, brought the suggestion forward as part of a collection of ideas to improve traffic flow at this comparatively busy intersection.\u00a0 Lantz, responding to the criticism of some area residents, remained open to having the suggestion reviewed by traffic management professionals, but cautioned that it was &#8220;traffic professionals that recommended a roundabout at Allen and Mt. Edward&#8221;, a suggestion that is still the source of bitter controversy for many.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is obvious, Charlottetown businesses want to promote the most efficient, or more correctly, the greatest volume, traffic flow to city centre businesses.\u00a0 Mitigating the conflicts between pedestrians and automobiles, especially those attempting a turn off Queen onto Grafton, is paramount in this discussion.\u00a0 What needs to be understood is that, for businesses, pedestrians are gold.\u00a0 Flying in the face of auto-dominated logic, pedestrian and cyclist traffic is actually one of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/wired\/archive\/12.12\/traffic.html?pg=1&amp;topic=traffic&amp;topic_set=\" target=\"_blank\">best indicators of economic vitality<\/a> to a business district.  Promoting the efficient flow of non-motorized traffic in the Charlottetown core is crucial to stemming the sprawl tide that is lapping at the edges of the city.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of focusing on how to move traffic more efficiently, the EDC and city council should be trying to figure out how to entice shoppers out of their cars and into the downtown merchants.\u00a0 Implementing a pedestrian scramble is an open invitation for orchestrated chaos at this low volume intersection.\u00a0 Council&#8217;s time and effort would be better spent developing a comprehensive traffic calming policy that would permit the peaceful co-habitation of pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in all sections of Charlottetown.\u00a0 If nothing else, the scramble has re-kindled the traffic debate and, while Rob Lantz and committee are only focusing on Grafton and Queen for now, he is &#8220;hopeful we will find innovative ways to improve the downtown experience for both drivers and pedestrians&#8221;, and that&#8217;s a good place to start.<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo by <a href=\"http:\/\/jrbentley.com\" target=\"_blank\">John Bentley<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHARLOTTETOWN &#8211; The macabre dance of pedestrians and automobiles is a time honoured tradition.\u00a0 Ever since Bridget Driscol was killed by a car in 1896, the deadly duo of auto and intersection has struck fear into the hearts of traffic planners and pedestrians everywhere.\u00a0 The reality is, of course, that traffic planning is as much<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Walk, Don&#8217;t Walk, Scramble?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8015,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[335],"tags":[570,576,581,355,583,582,578,585,580,577,572,573,584,365,575,566,366,571,579,574,381,367,348],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-streetscape","tag-bridget-driscol","tag-bylaw-enforcement-committee","tag-chair","tag-charlottetown","tag-charlottetown-city-councillor","tag-city-councillor","tag-confederation-centre-of-the-arts-and-confederation-court-mall","tag-confederation-court-mall","tag-cyclist","tag-economic-development-committee","tag-henry-a-barnes","tag-john-bentley","tag-mt-edward","tag-pedestrian","tag-provincial-legislature","tag-queen","tag-rob-lantz","tag-sam-javanrouh","tag-sister-site","tag-spacing-atlantic","tag-toronto","tag-traffic-calming","tag-transportation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Walk, Don&#039;t Walk, Scramble? - Spacing Atlantic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walk, Don&#039;t Walk, Scramble? - Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHARLOTTETOWN &#8211; The macabre dance of pedestrians and automobiles is a time honoured tradition.\u00a0 Ever since Bridget Driscol was killed by a car in 1896, the deadly duo of auto and intersection has struck fear into the hearts of traffic planners and pedestrians everywhere.\u00a0 The reality is, of course, that traffic planning is as muchContinue reading &quot;Walk, Don&#8217;t Walk, Scramble?&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-10-17T12:54:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-10-20T16:35:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua Biggley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua Biggley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/\",\"name\":\"Walk, Don't Walk, Scramble? - Spacing Atlantic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-17T12:54:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-10-20T16:35:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5642578fdf31ef3459d458bd2447a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Walk, Don&#8217;t Walk, Scramble?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Atlantic\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Halifax, St. John&#039;s, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Sydney, Miramichi, Truro, Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5642578fdf31ef3459d458bd2447a\",\"name\":\"Joshua Biggley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b26103da6443ed0c4fd88ea8d635d32?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b26103da6443ed0c4fd88ea8d635d32?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joshua Biggley\"},\"description\":\"Joshua Biggley is an IT consultant by day and freelance writer by night. He lives in Charlottetown, PEI with his wife, four children, eight heritage hens, and a chocolate lab named Daisy. An Islander-by-choice, he is an out-spoken advocate for urban agriculture, food security, self-sufficiency, traffic planning and anything else that strikes his fancy.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/author\/joshuabiggley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Walk, Don't Walk, Scramble? - Spacing Atlantic","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Walk, Don't Walk, Scramble? - Spacing Atlantic","og_description":"CHARLOTTETOWN &#8211; The macabre dance of pedestrians and automobiles is a time honoured tradition.\u00a0 Ever since Bridget Driscol was killed by a car in 1896, the deadly duo of auto and intersection has struck fear into the hearts of traffic planners and pedestrians everywhere.\u00a0 The reality is, of course, that traffic planning is as muchContinue reading \"Walk, Don&#8217;t Walk, Scramble?\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Atlantic","article_published_time":"2009-10-17T12:54:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2009-10-20T16:35:24+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Joshua Biggley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua Biggley","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/","name":"Walk, Don't Walk, Scramble? - Spacing Atlantic","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg","datePublished":"2009-10-17T12:54:36+00:00","dateModified":"2009-10-20T16:35:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5642578fdf31ef3459d458bd2447a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2561\/4018478456_dd78ba5a7b.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/17\/walk-dont-walk-scramble\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Walk, Don&#8217;t Walk, Scramble?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/","name":"Spacing Atlantic","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Halifax, St. John&#039;s, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Sydney, Miramichi, Truro, Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5642578fdf31ef3459d458bd2447a","name":"Joshua Biggley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b26103da6443ed0c4fd88ea8d635d32?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b26103da6443ed0c4fd88ea8d635d32?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joshua Biggley"},"description":"Joshua Biggley is an IT consultant by day and freelance writer by night. 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