Newmarket resident Deb Sheridan said she has watched the cars going by around Gorham Street for 19 years.
Crossing the street at the nearby Gorham and Muriel Street intersection has often been a challenge, she said. While crossing guards help, they are not always there, leaving a pedestrian at the mercy of whether or not a driver is willing to stop at the school crossing.
The crossing does pose challenges given its importance for the nearby Prince Charles Public School, she added.
“If I had a Grade 1 age kid, trying to cross the road to and from school every day, I would want lights,” Sheridan said. “I would want signs, I would want everything to know my child is protected. And if drivers don’t like it, tough noogies.”
The Town of Newmarket plans to deliver that with a new pedestrian crossover at the intersection. Council committee of the whole backed the proposal Feb. 5, which will see regulatory signs, pavement markings, flashing beacons and a special traffic bollard placed there. The move will cost approximately $36,000 from the transportation services budget.
The associated staff report said the move is justified given traffic volumes. In an eight-hour study completed in May 2023, 5,625 cars went through the road, with an adjusted pedestrian volume of 73.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said crossing guards do amazing work, but this crossing is particularly challenging.
"It’s something that’s been raised and brought to our attention numerous times,” he said. “I'm really glad to see us being able to move this forward.”
The municipality is also updating its transportation management policy to outline how more pedestrian crossovers could be requested and the procedure to review these. If requested and passed a preliminary assessment, staff can undertake an eight-hour study to determine where a location could warrant a crossover. That will be based on finding at least 750 vehicles in the eight hours and must have a minimum of 100 pedestrians for a non-crossing guard location or 70 for a crossing guard location.
Gorham Street resident Gary Flannigan said that the crossover is a good idea.
“The traffic, it’s heavy, and it’s fast,” he said, adding that he has seen several accidents on the street over his 30 years there. “Anything that they do there, I think would be helpful.”
The town did conduct another case study in October for Red Deer Street at the pedestrian trail entrance. While the area had enough traffic volume with 937 vehicles passing through, the study found too there was not enough pedestrian volume there with only 62 in the eight hours.
Councillor Jane Twinney questioned if the town could address sightlines at Red Deer intersection, with some issues with the foliage there, to which director of engineering Rachel Prudhomme said staff could take a look.
Councillor Victor Woodhouse said there could be an issue with speeding drivers on Gorham Street, given the slight hill impacting sightlines.
But Prudhomme responded that features added would make the intersection more visible with signage, such as flashing beacons up high above the incline of the road.
Still, although Woodhouse said this crosswalk is a good idea, he said many crosswalks can be an issue.
“Plastering crosswalks in general are not recommended anywhere and the reason being that individuals attempting to cross feel that the traffic’s going to stop because they at a pedestrian crosswalk,” he said. “And the driver’s either not paying attention or just don’t feel they have to stop and so it becomes unsafe.”
However, Woodhouse added that the type of crosswalk proposed here helps provide a visual warning to help with that.
Sheridan said plenty of people speed past the 40 km/h speed limit. She said breaking up the street with traffic measures stands to help, particularly as traffic increases.
Gorham Street is “a straight run,” she said. “The traffic on Gorham is insane, especially in the morning and rush hour.”
