The recent death of a pedestrian on Brunette Avenue has one councillor calling for improvements to the area’s infrastructure.
Newly elected Coun. Patrick Johnstone took to social media following the death of a 52-year-old New West woman who was killed crossing Brunette Avenue between Keary and East Columbia streets.
Johnstone and others were lamenting the lack of a safe pedestrian crossing on Brunette Avenue between East Columbia Street and Braid Street.
“There’s a few places in the city where people cross and they probably shouldn’t,” Johnstone told The Record. “I think that often just points out an infrastructure failure.”
While it’s still too early in the investigation to determine exactly what happened on the rainy night of Dec. 10, Johnstone said if the infrastructure – or lack of – contributed in any, way the city needs to take a good hard look at the area.
“I think it’s something that people have been talking about in that spot for a while, the concern about how you access the industrial area from the other side. You’ve basically got a kilometre and a half of the Brunette Highway there that you can’t cross – there’s no safe pedestrian crossing,” he said.
Johnstone believes this is an opportunity for the city and residents to have a serious discussion about pedestrian access to the Braid industrial area. Currently, there are only pedestrian crossings between McBride Boulevard and East Columbia Street on Brunette Avenue, but there’s nothing between East Columbia Street and Braid Street. There is, however, access for cars at Spruce and Keary streets, but pedestrians could just as easily find themselves there, Johnstone said.
“You can see how a pedestrian could get to that spot walking through the industrial area, or walking in from anywhere, and just not be able to see a way (across),” he said. “They simply don’t have a way to get from (the industrial area) to Sapperton.”
While the industrial area might not be a popular place to visit for residents, there are workers in the area who may need access to the SkyTrain or Sapperton, and unless they jaywalk, it could take considerable time to cross without a car, Johnstone pointed out.
This is especially concerning as the area continues to grow with new developments in the Brewery District – there needs to be a plan in place to ensure pedestrian safety, but it’ll require a lot of consultation before anything concrete is decided, Johnstone said.
“That whole area needs a review of how people get in and out of it,” he added.
