Pedestrian safety near LRT construction sites galls residents

Norman Emptage points down at where construction materials cover part of a sidewalk in front of Grand River Hospital.

"Please be careful," he said on a recent walk along King Street.

Emptage called CBC News over concerns about the state of LRT construction sites and that the needs of pedestrians - particularly those with mobility issues – were not being met.

Along the walk on both sides of King Street between Union Street and Wellington Street, he pointed out several concerns: raised manhole covers that were not properly marked, confusing signs about where pedestrians can go, construction work overhead that people were walking under and missing barriers that could cause pedestrians to fall off sidewalks.

He called the region Monday night after discovering a large dumpster in the pathway of pedestrians as well as a piece of equipment and a metal cover plate sitting on top of the ground. When he approached the items on the sidewalk, he had to make a decision to go into the dirt or onto the road with traffic.

"At nighttime, that was difficult," he said.

'The decision's not obvious'

"I've been on safety teams in industry and in education and I just have an eye for the bigger picture," said Emptage, who is a retired electrical engineer.

He said he has regularly spoken with people about how they get around.

In one stretch of King Street, in front of a Hasty Market between Wellington Street and Moore Avenue, there is nowhere for a pedestrian to go. Emptage said one man he spoke to said he made his own path, which included fighting his way through some dense bushes.

"They're not making a short cut, the decision's not obvious," Emptage said. "If you miss a sign, or you expect at least one side of the road to be open as a pedestrian. And in this case, is it or is it not open? I'm not sure."

Getting around an adventure

Martha Tortolo lives near the area. Her husband volunteers at the hospital and she has become interested in watching peregrine falcons nesting on a tower nearby, so she walks to Grand River Hospital a couple of times a day.

"I have a variety of routes and every now and again I get trapped in a cage where I can't get out because I didn't look far enough ahead, because the sidewalk will be open and then closed. But there is always a way around," she said.

"I've walked in the middle of the road, on the tracks, over the gravel," she said, but added she's not concerned about safety.

If people have concerns, give us a call.- Avril Fisken, GrandLinq community relations manager

"I have learned to keep my eyes wide open," she said. "You just have to be alert and watch what's happening."

Tortolo said she has seen other people get caught, then try to climb fences or they end up retracing their steps.

But, she said, she tries to view it as an adventure and something everyone is going through together.

"I've seen so many examples, too, of people being so helpful and kind to people with mobility issues, helping them over the rough patches," she said.

Don't know circumstances

Joyce Riener is one of those people with mobility issues. The 88-year-old woman crossed King Street from Grand River Hospital for tests, only to discover she had to cross back over because she couldn't go any farther. 

When asked what she thought of crossing King Street, she laughed.

"I made it," she said with a smile. "Very carefully."

Riener said she never leaves home without her walker now.

"When I'm going to a doctor or a place for a test … that I don't know the circumstances, I have a very bad knee, I cannot walk – I could not have walked over here," she said of crossing King Street.

Hotline for complaints

Construction crews have heard from pedestrians who are concerned about the safety around work sites, GrandLinq's community relations manager Avril Fiskens said.

"The construction sites, as we progress, change frequently, and I'll go out on a limb and say daily, if not hourly. It is the responsibility of our crew on site to make sure that whenever they make changes or whenever they make progress, that they pull that pedestrian access along with that progress," she said.

There are a couple of layers of responsibility when it comes to safety: site supervisors who are at the work sites, safety staff who do audits daily as well as regular maintenance crews.

Those maintenance crews walk the routes on a regular basis, but Fiskens said, it's impossible to walk the full 19 km each day.

"Their job is to actually walk it and make sure if can be walked. If they flag any issues, then that's brought to the site supervisor's attention or brought to a maintenance team's attention," she said.

If residents have an issue, there is a hotline they can call that is monitored regularly. Alerts go out to GrandLinq officials whenever a message is left on the hotline. That number is 1-844-625-1010.

Emergencies are dealt with immediately. Non-emergencies are looked at within 24 hours.

"We do take pedestrian safety, driver safety very seriously and if people have concerns, give us a call," Fisken said. "We'll definitely address those concerns if they need addressing, and we're more than happy to meet someone to discuss their concerns.