[LINK] "Queen and Grafton could get 'scramble' corner"

[rfmcdonald]

Guess what other community of personal note to me is considering a scramble intersection?

Changes could be coming to one of Charlottetown's busiest intersections. The city's police committee is planning to look at traffic flow issues and pedestrian safety at the corner of Grafton and Queen streets.

One of the options being presented is a pedestrian "scramble," which allows pedestrians to cross the street diagonally.

At a scramble crossing, vehicles are periodically stopped by red lights in all directions and people can walk across the intersection in any direction, including diagonally.

Toronto instituted the scramble at one of its busiest intersections the corner of Yonge and Dundas streets in August 2008.

Coun. Rob Lantz said that if it can work in Toronto, it can work in Charlottetown. "It's more efficient," Lantz said. "You don't have vehicles trying to turn right while pedestrians are crossing at the same time, which is not only unsafe for pedestrians, but it stacks up the cars that are trying to turn right."

The idea was put forward by a downtown Charlottetown business advisory committee. The committee also wants council to remove the no left turn law that exists at that same corner. Motorists driving along Grafton Street aren't allowed to turn left onto Queen Street.

You can see the intersection of Queen and Grafton Streets here. For pictures of the intersection in question, go to my photo post collecting September 2002 pictures of Charlottetown, or just look at the below picture.

The Confederation Centre of the Arts
Originally uploaded by rfmcdpei