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It’s so frustrating when you reach the end of a block and discover you can’t get out to cross the street because the intersection hasn’t been maintained properly or the street plows or property owners have dumped snow there. It’s one reason you see pedestrians on the street even when the sidewalk has been cleared. They’re tired of retracing their steps when they can’t get out further down so they just don’t bother with the sidewalk if they can’t see it’s clear right to the end. I’ve often done that myself. This photo shows how to do it right: note two way access to the intersection and shovelled area near the walk sign so people can reach the crossing button. Also, the clearing is wide enough to accommodate strollers and mobility aids, I believe. It’s on Westerland Road across from the Aquarena so I’m not sure if it was done by a MUN plow or by the City. Either way, it’s a model for how to do it right!

 

The first major winter storm was December 6. I went out on the 7th to see how St. John’s is living up to its commitment to be a “city for all seasons”, “support year round active transportation”, and “promote active and healthy living.” I live downtown, which is a priority area for sidewalk snow clearing, and at first it looked pretty good:

The sidewalk on Queen’s Rd. was perfect. Just a little further on, however, there were two problems:

First problem:  The street plows push the snow back onto the sidewalk, which means pedestrians have to walk right where that truck is. Bad enough for a walker but what about someone using a wheelchair or pushing a child in a stroller? (Later on, I went out in my car and saw a man pulling two small children on a toboggan along Empire Avenue, where there was no sidewalk at all.)

Second problem: people parking on the sidewalk. Sidewalks are so frequently unusable that drivers assume they won’t be used and feel free to park there. Why wouldn’t they when the City itself uses them as a dumping ground for snow?

(Photo: Frank R. Snyder, Public Domain)

Winter walking in St. John’s has long been an issue, as this editorial from the January 15, 1850 of the Morning Post And Shipping Gazette shows:

Difficulty of Perambulating The Streets of St. John’s in Winter

Solely from a desire to preserve the well-being of all classes in the community, we call the attention of the Police to the extreme carelessness manifested by the drivers of vehicles of almost every kind, in neglecting to provide them with a sufficiency of bells to give the foot passenger timely notice to move out of their way.

No person in St. John’s need be reminded of the difficulty, and often danger, of perambulating the streets of this town during the winter months, and when these are increased, the latter in particular, to an alarming extent, we think it quite time that we should point out the cause of that increase, to those whose duty it is to have the evil, remedied, but whose near-sightedness has probably prevented them hitherto from discerning it.

The Police would do well to order that all vehicles, both sleighs and slides, whether drawn by horses or dogs, shall be amply provided with bells to give timely notice of their approach; an order which, we hope will not only be given, but strictly attended to and rigidly enforced.