Durand neighbourhood wants council to expedite Queen street traffic conversion

City Councillor Aidan Johnson joined a resident rally on Monday that called on drivers to slow down on Queen Street.

“Speed demons abuse Queen Street. They fly down Queen Street and are not mindful that children and seniors and others are crossing the street,” said Johnson, who had his own close call two years ago.

“I was on a bicycle crossing Queen at Hunter,” he said. “I did everything right safety wise but I was nearly killed.”

It’s a scenario, the Durand Neighbourhood Association is all too familiar with.

Executive member Tom Flood says it’s not just minor collisions happening along Queen, but high-speed rollovers and pileups that have breached the sidewalk and left bus shelters in shards.

Last week, Flood says there was a collision involving two cars on the sidewalk where kids walk to school, near Stanley Avenue.

It was the impetus behind the neighbourhood group’s decision to line the street with signs that read “slow down, safety zone.”

Councillor Johnson says change is coming. To start, design work is being done this year to convert Queen Street so that it accommodates two-way traffic between Aberdeen and Main Street.

Evidence suggests this could have a calming effect on traffic, he says.

The physical changes are expected to come in 2019 and will include the elimination of an island at Herkimer and Queen and the installation of an electrified pedestrian crossover.

Flood applauds the progress but says it can’t happen soon enough.

“I would love to see the two-way conversion expedited, as well as ensuring further calming measures are implemented alongside that redesign,” he said.

In the interim, he says, the neighbourhood would benefit from further police enforcement of the posted speed limit on the road, 40 km/h.

“It’s time to prioritize people and neighbourhoods across the entire city and ideally truly commit to Vision Zero,” Flood said.