A pedestrian crosswalk on Tanner Road is raising safety concerns from some residents in Central Saanich.
Tanner Ridge resident Kim Currie noticed the southside crosswalk button on the corner of Robin Way has been out of order for a few weeks now.
“I called the district because I wanted to know when it is expected to be fixed,” Currie said. “I ended up leaving a message with the Central Saanich Engineering Department asking what measures they are considering to make the situation safer for kids on Halloween.”
The flashing pedestrian crosswalk was added in August 2023 in response to residents’ safety concerns with the increased traffic from the Keating flyover overpass construction on Patricia Bay Highway. Traffic has increased on Tanner Road since the construction detour started.
Before the flyover detour, residents would cross Tanner Road at Rodolph Road, but that’s become harder with the increase in traffic, so they switched to using the lighted crosswalk.
"Now that it’s broken, we tend to avoid it altogether. We’ve experienced too many close calls,” Currie added.
Coun. Niall Paltiel says the district is aware of the issue and is working diligently to source the parts required to fix the crosswalk button.
“I didn’t realize this, but parts for these flashing crossings are in short supply and there are significant back orders in the region — part of why that crossing took longer than anticipated to install too."
“I have asked staff if it will be ready for Halloween trick-or-treaters and the answer was likely not," Paltiel added.
The councillor said they are looking to get some first responders available at the intersection and making some reflective arm bands available for residents on Halloween.
Laura Tam, who lives on the corner of Robin Way, says, “It's confusing to cross the road right now because I don't know if I should stop or not.”
Peninsula News Review was at the crosswalk on Oct. 18 and noticed Tam and other residents were playing a dangerous game of wait-and-see with buses, trucks and cars before crossing Tanner Road on their way to Sunnsyslope Drive.
“It's an extremely busy street since the Keating overpass project has begun,” says Josh Ward, a father of two young girls who live on the northside corner of the crosswalk. "The neighbourhood petitioned pretty hard to get the crosswalk put in, so any way to increase public safety on a road that's frequented by kids going to and from school and parks would be much appreciated.”
The district says the light-activated crosswalk is out of service due to a malfunctioning controller, which has been sent back to the manufacturer as it is under warranty.
According to Dale Puskas, director of engineering, the district is waiting on the replacement part and expects to have the crosswalk button replaced within two weeks.
The district has assured the public there will be a traffic control personnel present on Halloween night.
