Like many people across the city Kathy Rowe is hoping a crosswalk can be installed at a busy intersection in her neighbourhood.Pedestrians at the Scarborough intersection of Meadowvale Road and Lawrence Avenue East, including staff and students at a nearby elementary school, face six lanes of traffic. It’s about 1.7 km between safe crossings, which means many people end up darting between cars to reach TTC stops. “It’s a really, really big concern” said Rowe, president of the local community association, who feels they’ve just been “extremely lucky,” that no one has been hit.But she may be waiting forever. According to estimates from city staff, a surprisingly low number of crosswalks have actually been installed over the last five years. Only 22 crosswalks have been put up across the city from 2014 to 2018, while more than 700 have been requested, a rate of about three per cent. Those low numbers, and the red tape that goes along with them, conflict with the city’s Vision Zero road safety approach, argue two city councillors, who say it’s time to make it easier and faster to get crosswalks, especially as the death toll on Toronto’s streets continues to climb. Coun. Jennifer McKelvie (Ward 25 Scarborough—Rouge Park) put through a request to the city for the Meadowvale and Lawrence crosswalk last spring. But, she said, even with her best efforts, that process is slow.“I feel like there needs to be some common sense applied to it especially in light of Vision Zero,” she said, calling the low installation rate “ghastly and unacceptable.”Thirty-four people have died on Toronto’s streets so far this year by the Star’s count. About a third were hit in Scarborough. In September, a 17-year-old was killed at an intersection on Scarborough Golf Club Road, where Councillor Paul Ainslie had asked for a crosswalk first in 2014, and then again last July. The most recent reque ...
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