Pedestrians crossing the intersection at Central Avenue and 2nd Street (on the west side), can thank Arjo Stoker and Chris Caruso for making things easier.
Caruso and Stoker, members of the of the Self-Advocates Group of Grand Forks, noticed the road was in need of repairs and the timing of the traffic controls was off and that made it difficult for people to cross.
“We met with someone named Stephanie Gillis from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and we went to see her about the pot holes,” explained Caruso.
“We also talked to her about the lights and the sidewalk,” added Stoker.
Caruso said that the self advocates meet once a month and they wanted to see the problems repaired.
“We ended up writing a letter to Stephanie about the situation with the lights. We thought that the timing was a little off,” Caruso said.
“It wasn’t long enough because it was blinking four times,” said Stoker.
Caruso and Stoker said that Gillis came to a meeting and the self advocates showed her where the problem was.
“She called an engineer and told him what the problem was,” said Caruso.
Gillis said she went out with the self advocates a few times to see their concerns.
“I was approached and went out with them a few times to see how the timing went on the crossing at 2nd and 5th on Central Avenue,” Gillis said.
“I had our traffic engineers check both sides, and it’s to do with the (street crossing) times and just to explain to them how they work for the solid ‘Don’t Walk’ and flashing ‘Don’t Walk’ and the timing.”
She said one second was added to the 2nd Street timer signal.
“Traffic engineers base the timing on desired walking design speed. Walking speeds used to calculate pedestrian clearance times are 1.2 m/s (metres per second) under usual circumstances and 1.0 m/s for special situations such as high percentage of elderly pedestrians and school children,” Gillis explained.
“We are using 1.0 m/s as it is justified at these intersections.”
Caruso and Stoker said that within a month or two, all the problems had been resolved – the potholes were covered up in two weeks, they said, and both were satisfied with the resolutions.
“It was perfect and I said, ‘You guys did a good job. Thank you very much,’” said Stoker.
“We were satisfied because we sort of made it happen,” Caruso said.
The people crossing are likely satisfied too.
