Raise the Hammer

I live in this neighbourhood (on the north side of Mud near Old Mud/Winterberry), and this intersection scares the pants off me every time we cross it to get to the Heritage Green shopping centre (Cineplex, Indigo, etc). The whole intersection is really dangerous.

There are only 2 marked pedestrian crossings at the intersection, being on the south side and the east side. So if you want to "safely" cross the street, you need to use one of those two. What I don't understand is this: there is a bus stop on the north west corner, so if you are getting on or off the bus here, there is no way you can get from that bus stop to the plaza without jay-walking or using the unmarked portion of the intersection. Additionally, there is no sidewalk on the west side of Winterberry (north of Mud), just a gravel shoulder. If the 13 year-old was hit crossing the street by a car turning right off the highway, he would've been travelling from where that bus stop is to get to the shopping centre.

The signal crossing on the eastern side of the intersection (to cross north to south) is really short and if you're pushing a stroller or have small kids (like we do), there's barely enough time to cross the street, even with the pedestrian button activated. Additionally, with the long yellow (for cars travelling east/west) and cars travelling at speeds usually 80+ km/hr, it's really dangerous. The posted limit is 70 km/hr, but nobody drives at that speed on that road at that intersection. You're coming off the highway or getting off the highway and people are routinely travelling much faster.

The pedestrian markings are just a pair a while lines so you don't even really notice them when you're driving. The city really needs put in some zebra crossings and better markings. Pedestrians are barely even an afterthought here, and I don't think most drivers even notice that they're there trying to cross the street.

There are bike lanes on Winterberry, but they are always blocked by cars turning right. Also, if you're travelling south on Winterberry by bike, you're sitting on an up-hill right at the intersection, so it takes a bit to get going, and there's cars trying to get around you to turn right (even though it's not really wide enough to do so) to get on the highway.

I really, really wish the city would fix this intersection. I don't feel remotely safe crossing it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.