Banff will begin to pilot scramble crosswalks at some of the busiest downtown intersections in a bid to help fix Banff’s traffic troubles.
Beginning in May, crosswalks on Banff Avenue at Wolf, Caribou and Buffalo streets will become scramble crosswalks. This means when the light turns red, traffic in all directions will stop and pedestrians may cross the intersection in any direction, including diagonally.
“It’s about improving the efficiency of pedestrians and traffic movement through simplifying the operation of traffic signals,” said Adrian Field, the Town of Banff’s engineering manager.
Scramble crosswalks are used successfully in Europe, Asia and other Canadian municipalities, including Calgary and Toronto. They are mostly used at intersections that see high pedestrian traffic.
The closest scramble intersections to Banff are in Calgary. The City of Calgary introduced two scramble intersections in the Eau Claire area in 2008 as a trial and ended up making them permanent.
Banff’s transportation master plan, prepared by Calgary-based Bunt & Associates, recommends the use of scramble intersections as part of an integrated plan to help with traffic congestion.
Field said surveys show more than 2,000 pedestrians and 200 vehicles converge per hour at Banff Avenue and Caribou Street on busy days in summer.
“Heavy pedestrian volumes on Banff Avenue, particularly during summer, impede vehicles making turns at busy intersections, further contributing to traffic congestion and delays,” he said.
The Town of Banff also plans to introduce one-way traffic and angle parking on Bow Avenue as part of a pilot program.
Beginning in May, Bow Avenue will become one-way traffic only, heading southbound from Wolf Street toward Central Park, and 33 angle parking stalls will be created on the river side of the road.
The stalls will be for cars only, with a portion of the parking lot on Wolf Street beside the health unit, as well as along Railway Avenue, to be designated for recreational vehicle parking only.
“The goal is to help reduce the shortfall of parking. It’s an additional 33 stalls and we’ve got a shortfall of 125, so that’s quite a dent in the shortfall,” Field said.
Parking at Central Park is also being reconfigured to create an additional 17 stalls. RV parking will be eliminated in Central Park and on Buffalo Street, and the stalls turned into vehicle parking.
