Saskatoon city council to discuss College Drive road safety review

A road safety review for Saskatoon’s College Drive and Wiggins Avenue intersection is being brought forward to city council on Wednesday, with several recommendations on the table.

It has been almost a year since Natasha Fox died at the intersection after being struck by a vehicle on her way to work, which was the incident that spurred this review.

Fox died in May 2023 and since then there has been a strong outcry in the community to bring forth road safety measures for cyclists in the city.

CIMA+ was the third-party organization brought in to put together the review, with it saying that the intersection is a critical link between eastern residential neighbourhoods and the central business district.

“College Drive and Wiggins Avenue is the most biked and second most walked intersection recorded in the city. Mitigation measures are designed to reflect this,” the report read.

It compared collision rates reported from SGI back in 2021 that looked at the 15 intersections across Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert with the highest collisions.

“The collision rates in SGI’s 2021 report for Saskatoon ranged from 49.5 collisions / 10 million vehicles at Circle Drive and Preston Avenue South to 6.3 collisions / 10 million vehicles at 8th Street East and McKercher Drive. The 2022 collision rate at College Drive and Wiggins Avenue is estimated to be 6.4 collisions / 10 million vehicles based on the 24-hour count conducted earlier this year.”

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The report highlighted several findings and issues seen while observing the intersection in October 2023, but offered multiple countermeasures that could be implemented, citing examples seen in other cities like Honolulu and New York.

4:07 Safety audit to look at making roads safer for cyclists

A list of 14 recommendations was written in the report, with city administration recommending 11 of them:

• Leading pedestrian intervals.
• Exclusive pedestrian phase.
• Adjust audible pedestrian signals (APS) to ensure that the cuckoo sound is used to indicate that a pedestrian can cross north/south and the chirp (or Canadian melody) is used to indicate pedestrians can cross east/west. Confirm that the APS can be heard above the volume of passing vehicles.
• Reduce the existing curb radius on the northeast corner.
• Remove the channelized island and consider a curb radius reduction on the northwest corner.
• Adjust pedestrian accessible curb ramps to provide direct crossings and include appropriate texturing for people with low vision. Adjust retaining wall on the southeast corner.
• Widen the existing shared-use pathway on the north side of College Drive to meet City standards.
• Install bike box pavement markings, a northbound painted bike lane on Wiggins Avenue between College Drive and Elliott Street and right turn on red restrictions.
• Modify lane assignment to create a one-way street northbound on Wiggins Avenue, double left turn lanes southbound leaving the University of Saskatchewan and a fully protected cycling facility on Wiggins Avenue for one block.
• Accelerate the ‘Connecting Campus’ study to assess the preferred north-south cycling route to the University of Saskatchewan through the Varsity View, Haultain, and Adelaide-Churchill neighbourhoods and identify the appropriate type of cycling infrastructure for the preferred route.
• Remove or relocate the residential parking permit sign on eastbound College Drive at the Wiggins Avenue intersection.
• Review sign bylaws and the permit process for signs on private property.
• Remove private driveways on the south side of College Drive.
• Discuss on-site queuing issues with the University of Saskatchewan north of College Drive on Wiggins Avenue.

1:08 Hundreds of cyclists show up for Natasha Fox memorial ride on College Drive

The city said some of these recommendations have already been completed and also touched on why three of the recommendations weren’t supported.

City administration said that installing bike box pavement markings would limit the right turn on red and require drivers to adhere to “a specific ‘one-off’ location in the City.” It added that these markings could be difficult to see in the winter and could create a false sense of safety for cyclists.

It also said that modifying the lane assignment for Wiggins Avenue could be considered, but noted that impacts and implications for that change would need to be reviewed by the city.

Lastly, city administration said that accelerating the connecting campus study wasn’t feasible this year or next year due to staffing constraints.

The total cost for the current recommendations supported by city administration sat at $49,250.