How does a pedestrian cross the road in Canmore? If it is at the intersection of Main Street and Seventh Avenue, it is after vehicles get a chance to make right and left hand turns.
The brand new traffic lights downtown have been up and running for a couple of weeks and council heard from municipal engineer Jacob Johnson the reasoning behind how they have been programmed.
“It is hard for me to speak to the signals on Seventh Avenue without talking about how the town centre functions and how we got here,” Johnson said.
From a small town with no traffic lights to a combined population of 18,000 residents and nine traffic signals – Johnson said various ways to deal with traffic on Main Street were considered for the new intersection.
He said the delayed pedestrian signal is “pretty standard signal phasing” for that intersection and the scenario that had the best results when modeled on a computer in preventing gridlock of all considered by transportation consultants.
“They looked at our Main Street upside down, inside out and all around,” Johnson said. “Our planning said to signalize that intersection and the next question was how do we do that?”
He said standard phasing at the intersection resulted in fairly poor levels of service and significant queuing when simulated. Split phasing with dedicated turn signals resulted in gridlock. Early pedestrian termination, where a walk signal is given for pedestrians then stopped to allow vehicles to turn, slightly improved results, according to Johnson.
A scramble scenario, on the other hand, resulted in gridlock and very long cycle times and was not recommended. The delayed pedestrian scenario, he said, theoretically delivers a decent level of service at that intersection.
“There has certainly been some confusion out there, whether it is vehicles recognizing green lights still mean go and red lights still mean stop and you need to look before you make a turn and similarly for pedestrians the hand means don’t walk and the walking man means walk – those basic rules haven’t changed,” Johnson said.
There is temporary signage on the poles to indicate the delay and the lights will be in communication with the set at Sixth Avenue as well through the cameras installed. Johnson said the cameras only operate for vehicle detection and do not record traffic.
“As part of this project, for Seventh Avenue to really function to its optimal potential and for pedestrians and vehicles to have consistent expectations we need to get Sixth Avenue programmed in a similar fashion and timed there,” he said.
