MOOSE JAW — Main Street is one of Moose Jaw’s most important corridors because it runs through the heart of downtown, so it’s not surprising that the new transportation master plan makes dozens of recommendations to improve it.
The document (TMP) — presented during the city council’s recent regular meeting — is 65 pages long and mentions Main Street 45 times. Some references relate directly to improving the street, while other passages briefly refer to it when recommending enhancements to adjacent streets.
Below is a summary of the suggested improvements to this thoroughfare.
Downtown business district
The entry points into the downtown are poorly defined, while there is a “diminished sense of arrival” for tourists coming from Highway 1, the TMP says. To improve this, the city should make “gateway treatments” where Main Street meets Manitoba Street and Oxford Street.
Specifically, improvements to the Manitoba Street intersection should enhance the pedestrian environment and establish a symbolic gateway feature to the downtown.
Also, Oxford Street is the transitional area between the historic downtown/Main Street and the first ring of heritage neighbourhoods. Establishing a gateway treatment at the Main Street and Oxford Street intersection would enhance the streetscape for pedestrian movement.
Protecting pedestrians
The document suggests that the city should add wide sidewalks and concrete “bulb-outs” along Main Street at the intersections of Caribou Street and Manitoba Street and finish adding bulb-outs on the remaining corners of Fairford Street.
The bulb-outs define parking areas, outline turning paths, make pedestrians more visible and shorten walking paths.
“Moose Jaw’s downtown is vibrant and exciting and attracts residents and tourists year-round (and it) is full of pedestrian activity,” the report adds. “Maintaining the wide sidewalks and road median is critical for pedestrian movement, safety and ambience in the downtown area.”
In areas with high pedestrian activity, a leading interval signal is valuable in enhancing pedestrians’ safety at intersections and provides them with a “walk” symbol before vehicle traffic receives a green light, the document said. This way, pedestrians can cross first and be visible to traffic.
“This strategic timing reduces conflicts between pedestrians and turning vehicles and is now being implemented in many Canadian cities,” the TMP noted, while it has a low effect on traffic.
Meanwhile, the report says the city restricts left turns from Fairford Street onto Main Street from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Therefore, the municipality should assess that intersection to determine if the restriction should continue, be reduced for afternoon peak traffic or be removed entirely.
Parking
Besides encouraging more residents and tourists to “pay by app” when parking, the TMP says the city should expand on-street parking downtown to improve access to businesses and shops. This would mean adding angled parking on High Street West immediately west of Main Street to mirror the east side of Main Street.
This change would increase the volume — and availability — of downtown parking by 18 stalls, provide a dedicated area for tourists and indicate to motorists that they are entering a slower driving environment.
As for angled parking on High Street East between First and Second Avenues Northeast, the report recommended against adding such parking on the north side because only seven stalls currently exist, while it recommended that the city add such parking on the south side because 16 stalls currently exist and another four could be added.
Intersection safety
Road safety is an important issue for municipalities, so to address intersection safety here, city hall should be aware of specific locations exhibiting elevated collision rates, the report said.
Consulting firm KGS Group identified five intersections with collision rates greater than 1.0 collisions per million entering vehicles (MEV), and while none included Main Street, that road was mentioned three times as having a collision rate between 0.64 and 0.99 collisions per MEV and required ongoing monitoring.
Those intersections included Thatcher Drive and Main Street, Main Street and Caribou Street, and Main Street and Athabasca Street.
Meanwhile, the document recommended that city hall upgrade the railway warning system at Main Street South and Home Street Southeast because of high traffic volumes.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, July 8.
