The Curious Case of the York Street Median — Part I
At The Go Do Project, we believe that municipalities can benefit greatly from data-driven discussions.
We’re not talking about metropolises like Toronto and Boston — we’re talking about the often forgotten but very real small to mid-sized cities of less than a million people that are faced with similar infrastructure issues the big fellas have to deal with, only on a slightly smaller scale.
Take for example our hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick, with a population just shy of 60,000 people. It’s got a small town feel with all the characteristics of a bustling city including an up-and-coming craft beer scene, a variety of ethnically diverse restaurants, and neighbours who aren’t afraid to bring their yelling match to the street for everyone to hear. Citizens ranging in identity from business-people to hippies — Fredericton’s got it going on.
Those are all the things that make a city, right?
One of the most controversial debates currently taking place at Town Council is the proposal to install a median on York Street, one of the major arteries of the city that connects the historic downtown to the industrial sprawl of the uptown. York Street is a two-lane street with residences on both sides and bike lanes — definitely not your typical express route, but an important one none-the-less.
Why a median?
It is to act as a traffic calming strategy to address the accident-prone intersection where Kings College Road crosses York.
Kings College is a shortcut street that allows you to avoid the traffic lights when crossing town East-West. The only drawback is that it requires crossing a few of the busiest streets in Fredericton without the aid of any traffic lights.
Apparently, enough people have found out about this sneaky route and are speeding across these residential streets in order to cross town faster (as I said, it still has the characteristics of a big city).
Residents of the area are pushing back on the prospect of a median installation because it will block vehicles traveling along Kings College from making left turns in either direction.
Their argument is that it will force traffic to other ill-equipped streets, ultimately not resolving the issue.
Other residents are not so sure. One pro-median local who got up to speak at the Council Meeting said:
“… the core of the anti-median movement is mainly based [on] perceived personal inconvenience and general resistance to change”
So what now?
It’s a classic stale-mate political situation with both sides sticking to their guns, unwilling to listen to their opposition.
If only we had some type of unbiased third party information that could help us…
Good thing Fredericton has an Open Data Portal!
There have been 23 collisions at the corner of York St. and Kings College Rd. between 2007 and 2016*.
*Remember when I said that the scale of the issues these cities are facing are smaller? I wasn’t kidding.
Are those enough incidents to warrant the installation of a large-scale renovation of a major street?
Apparently not.
At the City Council meeting on Monday August 12th, the project was sent back to the drawing board as over 100 citizens showed up to oppose the proposal.
Councillor Stephen Chase (who voted against) agreed that speeding is definitely an issue, but that a median isn’t the right solution.
So what are the alternatives? How can we use data to find a happy medium that satisfies the city planners as well as the residents? Will Fredericton’s streets ever be safe again?
