Complete Streets: Guidelines for Safer Streets and Roads In Sarnia.

From Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer.

Wider sidewalks on Lochiel Street and a bumped-out curb to make the crossing distance shorter for high-volume pedestrian traffic.

Paved shoulders on Waterworks Road.

Wider sections for bikes on Old Lakeshore Road.

They’re some examples of complete streets elements that already exist in Sarnia.

More could be on the way.

A guideline for road construction and refresh projects has been drawn up to guide how Sarnia approaches street layouts, keeping in mind safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

The guide, which also covers three-lane roads, driveway locations, sidewalk design and other tenets, is coming to city council May 28 for consideration.

Before then, city officials want the public to have their say.

The guide goes up on smartsarnia.com by the end of the week, a city spokesperson said.

Such a guide was called for in the city’s Transportation Master Plan, which characterizes complete streets as a way to shift from the decades-long focus on streets as a way to move cars, to streets as places that accommodate all different forms of transportation safely.

“It’s utilizing … what other municipalities are doing and taking the pieces that we think would work well within the city,” said Mike Berkvens, director of engineering with the City of Sarnia.

Groups like Lambton Public Health, the Sarnia Construction Association, Age-Friendly Sarnia and the Lambton Safe Roads Committee have backed the guide.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Google StreetView.

Thank you for reading.

Note. The complex shown above is the high-speed train-wreck waiting for a chance to happen that is the Capel St./Colborne Road area just south of the Highway 402 overpass. Identified as a high-traffic area in the bicycle usage study, there are also many senior citizens and children in the high-rises to the left of the photo. The pedestrian crossing into the popular Northgate Plaza should have illuminated crosswalks, and automobile traffic should be limited to 45-kph as a measure for public safety.

> Zach Neal for Wit Ventures.