News

The Municipality of Cumberland is announcing several traffic-related changes in Springhill following the completion of the first full school year at the new Springhill Elementary School.

When the school opened, the Municipality arranged for crossing guard locations and pedestrian routes to ensure the safety of students and families. Following those changes traffic and pedestrian patterns were monitored for a full school year. During that period, the following was observed:

1. A significant reduction in school related pedestrian traffic at the intersection of Junction Road. and Main Street.
2. A significant reduction in school related pedestrian traffic at the intersection of McDougal and McGee Streets.
3. A significant increase in vehicle and pedestrian traffic at the intersection of Mechanic and Black Streets.

With these observations in mind an independent traffic engineer was engaged to assess the Mechanic/Black intersection. The intersection of Horton Avenue and Main Street was also assessed by the independent traffic engineer to determine if any changes were warranted in that area.

The Municipality of Cumberland has announced several traffic-related changes in Springhill following the completion of the first full school year at the new Springhill Elementary School. Darrell Cole - Municipality of Cumberland photo

The reviews concluded that:

• New crosswalks and stop bars should be installed at the Mechanic/Black intersection.

• The installation of a crosswalk at the intersection of Horton/Main was not warranted.

It is noted that there is some evidence of students “short cutting” through Horton Avenue. In fact, the shorter route, by more than 100 metres, is continuing down Main to Princess, to the staffed crosswalk there.

In addition to the traffic changes, the following changes are being made, effective immediately, to the location of school crossing guards:

1. Crossing guard service at the corner of McGee Street and McDougall Streets is being discontinued.
2. Crossing guard service at the intersection of Junction Road and Main Street is being discontinued.
3. Crossing guard service is being implemented at the intersection of Mechanic and Black Streets

There are no job losses as a result of these changes.

Finally, in order to improve visibility and pedestrian safety:

• The crosswalk at the corner of Main and McDougal Street has been removed and a new sidewalk has been installed leading to the mid-block crosswalk at the Senior’s Centre.
• Pedestrian activated flashing lights have been installed at two crosswalks on Main Street in the downtown area.

All costs of these changes and improvements have been funded through the Springhill area rate.

All changes have been implemented by the local traffic authority in consultation with the local RCMP and leadership at the Springhill Elementary School.