Kamloops resident fed up with busy road made a new crosswalk of tape and chalk | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops News

Kamloops resident fed up with busy road made a new crosswalk of tape and chalk

Seniors who live at Ridgeview Lodge often cross the street where the fake crosswalk was installed.

Residents in a Brocklehurst neighbourhood were surprised when a new crosswalk appeared overnight - made with what appears to be white tape and chalk.

The makeshift crosswalk was installed on Desmond Street by Sunnycrest Avenue, and sits right in front of Ridgeview Lodge, a seniors care facility. A care worker was sitting across the street from the facility when our iNFOnews.ca reporter hit the streets and says it’s a welcomed addition, even if temporary.

“I was like, 'sweet, I can cross the road and finally, cars will let me cross,'” says Adeline Tremblay, a care worker at Ridgeview Lodge. “We don’t have any smoking destination, so we’re told to come here on the side and smoke here... I can (wait to cross) for ten minutes and people will just keep driving. They won’t even stop to let me cross, but since this has been here I think people have been stopping more. I’ll just walk and they stop when they wouldn’t before. Even seniors, they’ll try to cross and no one will stop to let them through, it’s pretty sad to see.”

The next crosswalk is about 200 meters north at Desmond Street and Greenfield Avenue, but Tremblay says that distance can be hard for some seniors to do. She says the seniors like to head out to that spot across the street and sit under the shade of a nearby tree, but it’s been hard to do as of late.

Construction along the Tranquille corridor has led to detours that bring drivers through residential neighbourhoods, making it harder for folks to cross the once-quiet road.

“People come out of that building and there are lots in wheelchairs. They look to go across the street and they sit there in their wheelchairs for hours… There’s a big tree so there’s shade and they sit there and smoke cigarettes. Almost every time I go past there’s someone sitting there,” says Brian Allen, a local resident. “If there are lots of cars going past, they can’t get across to their spots.”

Traffic has been rerouted through the residential area due to construction on Tranquille Road.
Traffic has been rerouted through the residential area due to construction on Tranquille Road.

Ken Redlack says when he drives within the neighbourhood, he often notices people crossing where they shouldn’t be.

“I just assume that every time I come to an intersection that there are going to be people crossing,” Redlack says. “I think it’s up to pedestrians to think of their safety. If you cross the street, make sure you check both directions and make sure there isn’t somebody coming...too many people will step out in front of you and take for granted that you’re going to stop and see them.”

Darren Crundwell, the capital projects manager with the City of Kamloops, says bylaw went out to the area today and plans to remove it by tomorrow.

“It’s not a permanent crosswalk and it wasn’t installed by the city… it doesn’t meet standards, it isn’t proper and we need to follow those before we put a crosswalk in, and we don’t just put a crosswalk in,” Crundwell says. “We need to do an analysis at any time we change traffic patterns or add signage or add additional safety measures. Residents can’t just go paint a crosswalk on a road.”

Crundwell says he is not aware of any requests made to the city for a crosswalk to be installed in that area, although the issue of speed and increased traffic is on his radar.

“We do feel for the residents on that road. People aren’t following the full detour and they're shortcutting on that road, and speeding is an issue. We’ve called the RCMP and asked for enforcement. We're considering putting up a local traffic only sign so hopefully that helps, but we can’t stop anybody from going on that road.”

Devon Eisenberger, another resident in the area, worries that the motorists using the road for the detour don’t notice the lack of a sidewalk and aren’t aware of how many kids play in the area.

“There’s a lot of kids on this street so I’m surprised nobody got hit. Even though it’s supposed to be 30 kilometres an hour, a lot of people aren’t going 30. People are going way too fast and it’s just a little street with no sidewalks, so people have no way to get out of the way, and people are walking down it and kids are biking.”

— This story was updated at 10:01 a.m. on Thursday, July 30, 2020 to correct the spelling of Ridgeview Lodge.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Jenna Wheeler or call (250) 819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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