There needs to be a pedestrian-activated crosswalk at this Maple Ridge intersection, residents say
Residents have raised safety concerns at an intersection on 227th Street, an area that has seen high development in recent years
A group of Maple Ridge residents are asking the city to do more for pedestrians at a bustling intersection in the Haney neighbourhood.
Earlier this week, multiple people raised safety concerns online about a crosswalk on 227th Street next to Selkirk Avenue and Brickwater at The Village, a master-planned community that features more than 200 condominiums.
“I care about my community deeply and I don’t believe that being a pedestrian should be an extreme sport,” said Mike Vengeance to The Ridge. Vengeance, a Maple Ridge resident who has worked in the area for more than three years, is advocating for a pedestrian-activated crosswalk at the intersection.
Pedestrian-activated traffic crossings — otherwise known as ‘controlled crossings’ — are signals that give priority to residents and are known to reduce speed and increase safety on the roads.
They may come in the form of a flashing green traffic signal that switches to red when a pedestrian activates the light, or flashing amber lights that go off as residents walk across the street. Alternatively, controlled crossings don’t give pedestrians the right of way and normally only include subtle road markings at an intersection.
The 227th Street intersection, which connects residents to a nearby Save-on-Foods, features white crosswalk markings and a large pedestrian walking sign.
It’s also located in an area that has undergone a significant revamp in recent years.
There was no intersection on the street prior to the Brickwater development, which was completed earlier this year and replaced a pair of urban fields.
As Maple Ridge continues to add housing, Vengeance, who currently works in construction, has noticed traffic becoming a bigger issue in the city. As more drivers choose back roads for solutions to busier arterial routes, he said, it has heightened the safety risk at intersections like the one on 227th Street.
“Basically, there’s too many cars and not enough road infrastructure,” Vengeance said, adding that he’s hoping to get in touch with the city to address the 227th Street intersection and, if necessary, launch a petition with support from other residents.
The crosswalk on 227 Street was created based on recommendations from a warrant analysis — a scoring system commonly used by other cities — that was conducted in the spring of 2021, the city wrote in an emailed statement to The Ridge. It’s a process that takes into consideration traffic and pedestrian data, safety gaps, collision history and environmental facts at locations where a crosswalk may be needed.
“The recommendations from the analysis indicated that a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) (i.e., pedestrian-controlled flashing crosswalk) was not warranted at the time,” the city wrote.
Fears about road safety is not a new topic in Maple Ridge.
Last September, a petition to add a four-way, light-controlled stop outside of Albion Elementary School racked up more than 500 signatures, according to the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
In 2018, a Maple Ridge man who uses a mobility scooter and has been hit at intersections on three occasions, advocated for more pedestrian-activated crosswalks in the city. (One intersection where he was hit, on Dewdney Trunk Road in the city’s downtown core, now has a pedestrian-controlled crosswalk.)
The concerns for safety come as Maple Ridge experiences a population boom, which is likely to increase in the coming years.
The population of Maple Ridge grew by 10.6 per cent between 2016 and 2021, according to data from the latest census.
The city, which currently has a population of nearly 91,000 residents, will also be forced to grapple with new provincial housing legislation that may bring an even greater influx of people to Maple Ridge.
Three transit hubs — the West Coast Express’ Maple Meadows Station and Port Haney Station, and the Haney Place Exchange — have been designated as Transit Oriented Areas (TOAs) by the province, meaning all new builds within 400 metres of those spots must require at least six units of housing.
To cope with the expected population growth, Maple Ridge launched a transportation campaign, Maple Ridge Moves, to expand the city’s road infrastructure and make room for more public transportation.
Last fall, the city was named as one of the first communities in the Lower Mainland to be prioritized for a Bus Rapid Transit line, a bus service with its own lanes and train-like station stops.
Maple Ridge council also emphasized the importance of green infrastructure and moving the Lougheed Corridor away from a “suburban, automobile-centred community” at a workshop meeting in the spring.
The city has shown a tendency to address public safety in recent public infrastructure projects.
A new multi-use path on Hammond Road between West Street and 203 Street — completed earlier this year — includes a pedestrian-activated crossing at the Maple Meadows station.
Maple Ridge encourages residents to engage with the city, as crosswalk implementation is an ongoing process. Residents can voice their concerns here.
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