{"id":3502,"date":"2008-08-27T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2008-08-27T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/08\/27\/one-diagonal-step-for-pedestrians\/"},"modified":"2008-08-27T10:00:18","modified_gmt":"2008-08-27T14:00:18","slug":"one-diagonal-step-for-pedestrians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/27\/one-diagonal-step-for-pedestrians\/","title":{"rendered":"One giant diagonal step for pedestrians"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Starting on Thursday, pedestrians will be able to cross the intersection of Yonge and Dundas diagonally, without worrying about cars.<\/p>\n

The City is ready to activate<\/a> a “pedestrian priority phase” at this intersection. In addition to the regular east-west and north-south traffic phases, there will be a phase specifically for pedestrians to cross the intersection any which way they want. All the vehicle traffic signals will be red, and all the pedestrian signals will signal “walk” — including new signals facing diagonally across the intersection. The pedestrian priority phase will be 28 seconds out of a total 80-second cycle for the three traffic signal phases.<\/p>\n

During the regular traffic phases, pedestrians will still be able to cross in the normal way, too. This is a change — and a huge improvement for pedestrians — from the way many of these systems work in other cities, where pedestrians can’t cross during the car traffic phases. It was made easier by the fact that cars are already not allowed to make any turns at this intersection. It’s a good decision by the city — it means the new phase is a clear benefit for pedestrians, rather than a trade-off with potentially longer wait times.<\/p>\n

The city has announced it is taking a few measures to help with the transition to this unfamiliar new system, including providing some staff and police on hand initially to assist people with the change, making sure the phases are long enough to enable all pedestrians to clear the intersection, <\/span>enhancing the Accessible Pedestrian Signals to assist the blind and visually impaired, and<\/span> monitoring the intersection to determine whether any adjustments need to be made. <\/span><\/p>\n

This initiative is a welcome recognition that pedestrians are a significant part of traffic, and should not be treated as just an afterthought. At this and a few other downtown intersections, probably the majority of people crossing the intersection are on foot, so it makes sense to provide extra time for them. As well, the sidewalk at some of the corners of these intersections are too narrow to cope with peak walking volumes (e.g. the north corners of Dundas and Yonge), which tends to push pedestrians onto the street, creating conflicts and possible danger with cars, as well as blocking the sidewalks for walkers who just want to pass through. The new system will, ideally, reduce this state of pedlock by passing pedestrians through the intersection more quickly.<\/p>\n

The city is also considering a similar phase for other pedestrian-heavy downtown intersections: Yonge and Bloor Streets, Bay Street and Bloor Street West, and Bay Street and Dundas Street West. (The city started at Dundas and Yonge because Bloor is currently occupied with the ongoing streetscaping project). There was some initial concern about possible delays to the Dundas streetcar, but the TTC was apparently cooperative and agreed to the plan.<\/p>\n

This initiative is part of a series of small steps the City decided to undertake to improve sustainable transportation in Toronto quickly in a concrete way while the city is still working on its somewhat delayed walking strategy, and Metrolinx is still working on its somewhat delayed regional transportation strategy.<\/p>\n

These kinds of intersections are also often called “scramble” intersections, since pedestrians can go any way they want, or “Barnes Dance” after US traffic engineer Henry Barnes<\/a>, who is credited with popularizing them to the US.<\/p>\n

The new pedestrian priority phase at Yonge and Dundas will be officially launched by councillor Kyle Rae at 11:00 am on Thursday<\/em> August 28.<\/em><\/p>\n

photo by Sam Javanrouh<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starting on Thursday, pedestrians will be able to cross the intersection of Yonge and Dundas diagonally, without worrying about cars. The City is ready to activate a “pedestrian priority phase” at this intersection. In addition to the regular east-west and north-south traffic phases, there will be a phase specifically for pedestrians to cross the intersectionContinue reading “One giant diagonal step for pedestrians”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4006,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_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":[9,6],"tags":[10079,408,7044,1277,663,1740,19,6977,9462,506],"class_list":["post-3502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-traffic","category-walking","tag-car-traffic-phases","tag-councillor","tag-henry-barnes","tag-kyle-rae","tag-sam-javanrouh","tag-sustainable-transportation","tag-toronto","tag-traffic-engineer","tag-transportation-strategy","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOne giant diagonal step for pedestrians - Spacing Toronto<\/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\/toronto\/2008\/08\/27\/one-diagonal-step-for-pedestrians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One giant diagonal step for pedestrians - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Starting on Thursday, pedestrians will be able to cross the intersection of Yonge and Dundas diagonally, without worrying about cars. 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