Letter: Pedestrians at risk downtown
By Letter to the Editor on October 21, 2021.
Dear editor, Thousands of dollars have been spent in the past few months on hastily reconfiguring the First Street SE and Sixth Avenue SE intersection as part of the Towne Centre development. Additionally, thousands have been spent on the trailway along S. Railway and Carry Drive. Meanwhile, long-term plans for downtown pedestrian safety have been neglected. For the umpteenth time in the past 10 years, I recently narrowly escaped being hit by a vehicle in a downtown crosswalk. It is always the same crosswalk and it’s not just me who is almost hit. The problem is always that vehicles coming up Fourth Avenue SE to turn left onto Third Street SE often do not see pedestrians walking on the crosswalk. On this recent occasion I was wearing a bright orange T-shirt. The woman driving the car slowed briefly and waved and said “sorry” through her closed window. I have reported incidents that have happened to me and to others to Medicine Hat police but I stopped doing that as it seemed a waste of time. I have raised pedestrian safety concerns with city officials and councillors, and even had a meeting about three years ago with some of them at the intersection. We all agreed the problem was obviously driver error but that something needed to be done. I offered several practical suggestions including a pedestrian-controlled no-left-turn delay while people were on the crosswalk. I was told that would disrupt traffic patterns and would cost too much. Soon after the meeting, two very small signs appeared above the traffic light standard but drivers inevitably fail to see them. In December 2009, the city announced a 30-year downtown redevelopment plan. Pedestrian safety was a key component in the plan, including enhanced pedestrian crossings, improved pedestrian environment in and to the downtown, special corner bulges and paving to enhance pedestrian orientation and safety. Earlier this year the city unveiled through Invest Medicine Hat a new 30-year plan to revitalize downtown. The 2021 plan has many ideas that were included in the plan launched 11 years ago. I ask that the mayor and council direct city managers to please do something to make the Third Street and Fourth Avenue intersection safer now before winter arrives! David Forbes Medicine Hat 10-9
Hello David,
I agree with you 100%, now try navigating downtown and most other parts of this city in a wheelchair.
This summer when they were working on 2nd street n/e and had the Finlay bridge open for pedestrians only, there was no access for wheelchair users. So we had two options, one was to go to the highway to cross and the other was to use the path under the bridge follow the river, go under the railway and Maple St. bridge’s and cross the river on the east side of the bridge. Not everyone has a power wheelchair or scooter.
If the city or the contractor are going to disrupt the lives of people with disabilities, they must provide an alternate measure to mitigate that disruption. It was the city’s or the contractor’s responsibility to provide Hand-transit or cab service free of charge to people using wheelchairs.
How many people are aware that on 1st n/w there is a pedestrian crosswalk with a wheelchair ramp at one end and a curb at the other? It’s been like that for years.
Hopefully, our new mayor and council will be addressing these issues.
This city is not pedestrian-friendly.