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New Westminster Intersection Safety Review

Author(s): Borg Chan

Slidedeck Presentation Only (no paper submitted):

7C - Chan

Abstract:

Background/Context: Located at the centre of Metro Vancouver on the banks of the Fraser River, New Westminster is the oldest city in Western Canada, and the first capital of British Columbia. The “Royal City” has a proud heritage with much to offer to residents and visitors alike. New Westminster is a vibrant transportation hub, featuring five rapid transit stations and ready access to major highways, rail, and water. The City of New Westminster (the City) allocates a capital budget each year to undertake road safety improvements for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and motor vehicles. Budget allocation is based on projects identified in recent road safety reports, including the Comprehensive Road Safety Plan completed in September 2007. The City has undertaken significant changes in land use, updated network infrastructures, and completed many local intersection improvements. Since 2007, traffic patterns, development activities, and collision trends at City intersections have already been changed.

Aims/Objectives: The City, in association with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), retained ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd (ISL) to update the Road Safety Plan. and the purposes includes:
• A review of traffic and collision data,
• Screening of priority locations,
• Assessment of selected site conditions,
• A review of technical parameters, and Transportation Associations and Canada (TAC) guidelines,
• Identification of common safety issues and trends,
• Development of a list of recommended City-wide and site-specific intersection improvements for consideration in the City five-year Capital Program.

Methods/Target Group: The target group is all road-users travelling across the intersections within the City of New Westminster and using the existing and future intersection facilities.

Results/Activities: Network screening using claims data of over 21,000 collisions (between 2008 to 2012) was undertaken to prioritize the intersections using collision frequency, severity, and collision rate. Top locations for signalized and unsignalized intersections were then selected for more in-depth review based on various criteria. Common safety issues and trends had been identified based on collection of public and stakeholder feedback, traffic and collision analysis, as well as detailed site reviews. Potential contributing causes were also identified and highlighted.

Discussion/Deliverables: Technical memos and final report were submitted to exploring achievable mitigation measures to improve road safety for selected intersections. Improvement projects will be categorized into immediate, short-, medium and long-term for the City to determine the priority of implementing these options to be allocated for the City’s next capital program.