CENTRE WELLINGTON – Due to an increase in pedestrian and vehicle traffic, safety improvements may be coming to a busy Elora intersection.
Local residents and county and township councillors have raised concerns about the intersection of Metcalfe and Mill Street (Wellington Roads 21 and 18).
In response, county staff hired CGE Transportation Consulting to analyze traffic and pedestrian movement patterns at the intersection to determine if changes are required.
The topic was discussed at a Nov. 17 county roads committee meeting, including a delegation from Centre Wellington councillor Lisa MacDonald.
She told the Advertiser an Oct. 14 county roads committee report “was clearly missing data.”
MacDonald said better communication between the county and Centre Wellington is needed, adding the township has “proper data” on pedestrian volumes.
MacDonald said, “The data in the report was [collected] on days that were not nearly as busy as October.”
The CGE study was completed from Aug. 21 to 24 and Sept. 4 to 7.
Weekday peaks ranged from 19 to 550 pedestrians per hour, while weekend peaks ranged from 408 to 1,052 per hour.
As for vehicle volume, during the busiest hour of each day, turning vehicles (left and right) consistently accounted for 55 to 65 per cent of the total vehicle volume.
“We need to be cautious of the pedestrians that are walking and we need to have better timing of the lights,” said MacDonald, who originally came across the report at an Elora Business Improvement Association (BIA) meeting.
She said community members have raised the idea of a pedestrian scramble – a type of traffic signal movement that temporarily stops all vehicular traffic, allowing pedestrians to cross an intersection in every direction at the same time.
The county traffic study concluded a pedestrian scramble is not appropriate for the location, due to a lack of consistently high pedestrian counts.
The intersection was evaluated based on the:
- warrant-based system from Toronto;
- qualitative pilot criteria from Vancouver; and
- feasibility scoring matrix from Calgary.
Asked why an area with a population of just under 9,000 people was compared to massive cities, county roads manager Joe de Koning stated, “They’re well-known areas where scrambles have been implemented and there was a known merit used to determine whether or not it should be placed.”
“We’ve since learned there is a scramble in Paris, Ontario,” de Koning told the Advertiser, noting staff is completing additional research.
He explained the need for consistency with new traffic systems.
“If it’s not busy during the week then why am I not turning right on red, [but] then you get there on the weekend and try to do the same but there is so many more pedestrians,” de Koning said.
“It’s not a perfect science but there is some science to it.”
Ultimately, the recommendation is to implement leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs) combined with a no-right-turn-on-red restriction for vehicles.
LPIs give pedestrians a four- to six-second head start to begin crossing the street before vehicles get a green light.
“All of this is low-cost stuff. It will require some signage [and] we’d probably have to do some education work,” de Koning added.
County councillor Mary Lloyd, who represents Ward 5, where the intersection is located, said she is not in favour of the changes “because a no-turn-on-red is going to delay traffic.”
After attending an Elora BIA meeting and hearing the concerns, she requested a traffic study in the summer.
“You have to have it months in advance,” Lloyd said. “A few years ago there was a pedestrian who was hurt at that intersection and we do not want to see [that] any more.”
The study noted two non-fatal collisions involving pedestrians:
- one struck by a through vehicle in August 2022; and
- one within the right-of-way was struck by a right-turning vehicle in July 2024.
“Since that happened … traffic has only increased, as well as the number of pedestrians,” Lloyd said, adding that regardless of signs, pedestrians will need educating.
“Pedestrians tend to look at the large green light and not the walk/don’t walk symbols,” she said.
“They are … vulnerable for getting hurt.”
Lloyd added “if we have to educate drivers and walkers [then] why not move to this final step first – why not do the pedestrian scramble?”
Lloyd said she plans to speaking against the LPI and no-right-turn-on-red restriction recommendations at the county council meeting on Nov. 27.
“I feel that my residents/visitors to that area need to be safe,” she said.
