Traffic signal not welcome in Markham's Box Grove?

yorkregion.com
March 3, 2016
By Amanda Persico

Box Grove residents worry the region’s plan to install a traffic light will change the look and feel of a smalltown junction into a big city intersection.

Markham city council this week debated the need for a traffic signal at the 14th Avenue and Ninth Line intersection where an all-way stop exists.

Council approved installing a traffic light at the intersection, but urged the region to take a different approach when it comes to design, making the intersection stand out.

Both roads fall under the region’s jurisdiction meaning putting a traffic light there is a decision made at the regional level.

“Normally, we have people requesting traffic signals where we are not putting one"

“Normally, we have people requesting traffic signals where we are not putting one there,” said the region’s transportation services director Brian Titherington.

“All-way stops on regional roads are problematic. An all-way stop is a poor method of traffic control.”

It is rare to have an all-way when two regional roads meet, he added.

Along with a traffic signal, the region would also put in pedestrian crossing pavement markers and timed walk signals.

According to the region, the intersection meets the requirements for a traffic light, which will cost about $150,000.

But residents in the area fear the change would transform the quaint intersection into an overly busy crossroads.

“It’s a cute, winding road,” said Nimisha Patel of 14th Avenue. “It’s a polite intersection where drivers wave each other through.”

Patel, representing the Box Grove Community Association, presented a petition with 40 homeowners strongly opposed to a traffic light.

There are no current plans to widen either of the two-lane roads, Titherington said.

“This will not look like the Yonge (Street) and Hwy. 7 intersection,” he said. “This will be the same intersection just with signals.”

But that will lead to further congestion in the area, Patel said.

“If one vehicle is making a left, traffic will be backed up until that one car made the left,” she said.

The curvy, uphill grade of 14th Avenue, lack of sidewalks and low visibility, make this a challenging spot for a traffic light, she argued.

Local residents also worried that since the major of traffic travels east-west, the all-way stop sign forces east-west drivers to stop.

On a green light, cars could zip through the community.

While the need for a traffic light meets the provincial safety requirements, Mayor Frank Scarpitti argued something should be done when it comes to intersection improvements, including design and speed mitigating measures.

He suggested the use of textured or coloured pavement along with enhanced streetscaping to make the intersection stand out.

“There needs to be something creative,” he said. “The region can’t just install a light then away they go. We don’t want drivers to go through here as quickly as possible. It’s not a speedway. It’s a community.”

A roundabout was also looked at, but that could cost upwards of $2 million, with property acquisitions eating up most of the costs.

In the past five years, there have been 20 to 25 collisions at the intersection, Titherington said.

That’s about the same number of accidents as at the Box Grove Bypass and 14th Avenue intersection, which has a signal, he added.

One of the reasons for installing traffic lights is to mitigate traffic infiltration onto residential roads.

There are also three elementary schools in the vicinity, which results in high traffic volumes during school pickup and dropoff times.

There are traffic lights along 14th Avenue at Havelock Gate, Boxwood Crescent and at the Box Grove Bypass. According to an infiltration study, the intersection is used to bypass traffic along the Box Grove Bypass and Donald Cousens Parkway, bringing traffic to local roads.

“Our job at the region is to keep regional traffic on regional roads,” Titherington said. “A traffic signal may be the best chance to stop infiltration. It might not make everyone happy.”

Widening Steeles Avenue to six lanes will also ease congestion along 14th, with construction scheduled to start in 2017. The environmental assessment to widen Steeles between Markham Road and Ninth Line is complete and the region is working with Toronto to complete a boundary agreement.