Rawlins Cross changes approved by St. John's council, walkers still worried

If everything works as the St. John's city council hopes it will, nobody else will be T-boned at Rawlins Cross, a notoriously confusing series of intersections in downtown St. John's.

Council voted to approve a pilot project that will see all the traffic lights removed from the area and have traffic forced in a one-way circle around Military Road instead.

The changes, expected to come into effect this summer, make it impossible for a vehicle to cut across Military Road to reach one of the other streets making up Rawlins Cross.

"We think we can do better," said Coun. Hope Jamieson, while standing in the middle of the area on Monday.

If the new traffic plan was in place in 2013, Mark Harvey wouldn't have needed back surgery.

He was driving down Monkstown Road, crossing over Military to get to Prescott Street, when a taxi van ran through the yield sign and T-boned him.

"I only saw it out of the corner of my eye, just as we were about to collide."

It was one of 120 accidents in the area in the last six years, Jamieson said.

"And most of those were T-bone accidents where someone ran a red light."

We want drivers to be paying attention.- Hope Jamieson

The new plan would see all traffic blocked from entering Military Road between Prescott Street and King's Road.

For example, cars travelling east on Military Road will have to turn right on Prescott Street, left on Queen's Road and left again on King's Road. After that, you can turn right to continue on Military Road, or go straight ahead to Rennie's Mill Road.

Lack of diligence an issue

Jamieson believes most people who drive through the area have grown used to the status quo, and their attention has dropped.

"To those of us who have grown up in St. John's and learned to drive here, we take this [intersection] as a given," she said. 

"But actually, that kind of autopilot is something we need to fight against from a safety standpoint. We want drivers to be paying attention."

Harvey agrees — he still drives the intersection frequently, and said many drivers blow through the area improperly.

"It just seems like people aren't paying attention," he said.

The lack of attention worries pedestrians, since traffic lights will be removed and replaced with crosswalks at the same places where drivers are entering the traffic circle.

"Honestly, I'm not sure if people are going to respect the crosswalks," said pedestrian Alix Stuart. "It's not going to help pedestrians at all.

"I think it will make it worse, because the only time I really get to cross the road in a crosswalk is if the lights change. You have better luck as a jaywalker most of the time anyway."

Jamieson said the city's traffic study showed three pedestrians and one cyclist have been run down by vehicles in the last six years.

"I think that as it exists, the cross leaves quite a bit to be desired from a pedestrian point of view," she said. "I use this intersection quite a lot myself and near-misses are quite common."

Jamieson said better signage — both on the sidewalks and on the roads — will be a key to guiding people through the changes.

Mayor Danny Breen did not vote for the plan, saying he can't see the area functioning as a roundabout. Councillors Jamie Korab and Wally Collins also voted against it.