Two Wheels To Nowhere

Letter to City of Barrie ~ Traffic Speed, Parking & Safety on Lakeshore Drive

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I travel almost daily and in all seasons, usually on foot or bicycle and occasionally in a car, on Lakeshore Drive between Tiffin Street and Simcoe Street where the speed limit is 50 km/hr at all times. This is the narrow one lane (each way, with a divider island in between) section of road that provides access to Barrie’s spectacular Centennial Park and Marina where thousands of people visit daily, especially in the summer months. 

Problem / Observations:

There is a long section of this narrow road directly across from Centennial Beach that has parallel parking in both directions. Often, there are visitors who park in these parking spots, especially problematic in the southbound lane, with small kids and family members getting their gear out of their cars while through-traffic continues to flow close by at approximately 40-60 km/hr. They then scurry across the two lanes (with the median island in between which has beautiful tall-grass that unfortunately camouflages the crossing pedestrians from drivers’ view) directly from their parking spot, towards Centennial Park. They often do not use the adjacent sidewalk to get to the traffic controlled pedestrian crosswalks. This process often occurs with small children anxiously waiting by their car to head to the beach while parents unload the vehicle. Often driver-side doors of parked vehicles are opened without shoulder-checking first for passing traffic. 

You probably get the picture or have even witnessed this yourself… this scenario is an accident waiting to happen, in my opinion. I fear that it is only a matter of time before an excited child runs onto the road in front of oncoming traffic and is injured. This sort of tragedy could be avoided with a simple change in the design of the traffic flow, only requiring some signage. The cost of the signage is relatively small compared to the human cost of traffic related injuries or deaths. Last summer, Barrie conducted some traffic studies on this section of road; I wonder what the findings were? If possible, please direct me to any reports related to that or any other traffic study of this stretch of road.

Solution / Recommendations:

Install signage on Essa Road south of Tiffin, that directs northbound traffic wanting to reach the Downtown core, to continue north on Bradford Street (or Anne Street to get to Barrie’s north end), thereby avoiding through-traffic on Lakeshore Drive. Install similar signage in the Downtown area to direct southbound through-traffic to use Bradford or Anne Street to get to the highway or south end.

Adjacent to all this new signage, include signs directing Beach visitors only towards Lakeshore Drive. Concurrently, reduce the speed limit on this section of Lakeshore Drive to 30 km/hr. Yes, 30 km/hr between Tiffin and Simcoe Streets. Maybe even install speed humps for traffic calming as Barrie already does in many neighbourhoods and school zones.

If necessary, make this traffic flow control seasonal only, in effect for the Beach high season, July 1 through Labour Day weekend. This will help make Barrie’s Waterfront an even more attractive, enjoyable and safe place to visit during the busy summer months. Increasing safety, increasing tourism and increasing business for downtown Barrie should be our City’s goal here.