Safety concerns raised by the town’s Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) have put the brakes on a key decision tied to the Beckwith Street bridge rehabilitation project, with council opting to delay approval while seeking further review.
Coun. Chris McGuire requested the item be removed from the June 15 agenda, telling council the committee was not satisfied with recommendations presented during committee of the whole the previous week.
“The accessibility committee has had a chance to review last week’s meeting, and they’re not satisfied with the recommendations that came forward,” McGuire said.
He said the committee chair recently visited the site with consultants and staff and identified concerns that had not been fully addressed.
“If we’re going to do this job, it’s going to be like this for the next 50 years,” McGuire said. “This is our chance to get this right.”
Among the concerns raised were stopping distances, sightlines, pedestrian safety and the height of proposed bridge railings. McGuire also questioned aspects of the traffic analysis presented to council, including calculations related to collision risk and visibility.
He suggested that if concerns cannot be resolved, council should consider removing the intersection component from the project.
Director of Public Works and Utilities Paul McMunn cautioned that answering some of the technical questions being raised would require a much more detailed review than has been completed to date.
“The only way that we would be able to address the particular questions that’s coming from Coun. McGuire would be to do a full-on traffic analysis, and that hasn’t been done,” McMunn said.
McMunn said staff, consultants from TSI and Parsons Engineering remain confident safety improvements can be achieved without changing the overall geometry of the intersection.
Potential measures include relocating pedestrian crossings, enhanced crossing signals and traffic-calming features.
“We believe that we can put those provisions in place to make it certainly significantly safer than it is right now,” he said.
Coun. Jennifer Miller supported a short deferral and suggested the AAC submit its comments in time for the matter to return to committee of the whole on June 23.
Mayor Shawn Pankow said concerns raised during the site visit warranted additional review and discussion.
After hearing from both staff and councillors, Pankow suggested further consultation with the AAC before council proceeds.
Smiths Falls council agreed to defer the matter to allow additional input from the AAC and further discussion with staff and consultants.
The Beckwith Street bridge rehabilitation project is intended to begin this year and includes work tied to active transportation and pedestrian safety improvements. McMunn noted the project is supported through senior government funding programs and must be carefully staged because of navigation restrictions on the Rideau Canal.
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