Wobbling bollards were not part of the original plan.
Because Fifth Avenue was reduced from four lanes to two to accommodate angled parking during a heatwave, the wiggling bollards wobble more than intended, as anchors were placed in soft asphalt.
Because the bollards (black rubber sticks) need to be more stable, city supervisor of transportation engineering Chris Vliegenthart said they will revisit that work.
More bollards will be installed once the back order is filled, he added. Bollards were placed in the bulbouts, which are the sidewalk extensions that are delineated by thick white lines that guide vehicles away from angle-parked cars and offer better sight lines to pedestrians and vehicles.
"We had to introduce bulbouts to allow pedestrians to get out to a point where they could be seen by traffic and so they could see the traffic before crossing the street," Vliegenthart said.
The bulbouts also reduce the crossing distance for pedestrians, making it safer for them, he added.
"By reducing the lanes from four to two, we also reduced the number of conflict points from turning vehicles," he said.
The plan to make Fifth Avenue a two-lane road that increased the angled parking by 30 per cent has been in the works for years. The proposal was introduced by the Downtown Business Improvement Association with support from downtown merchants. The capital project was presented to city council in 2013. The budget for the project was estimated between $2 and $3 million, Vliegenthart said, which included concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalk bulbouts like on Third Avenue.
The plan put in place now cost $105,000 in the interim because the budget would not allow for the installation of the more expensive project at this time.
Vliegenthart said he hopes within the next five years the bigger project will begin and will likely be a multi-year venture which is funding dependent.
Being a winter city there is already a plan in place for the new bollards and bulbouts during heavy snowfall.
"The spacing between the bollards is larger than the sidewalk snowplow," Vliegenthart said. "They don't necessarily need to clear out the entire bulbout because it's unused space. They really just need to clear a walking path for the crosswalks."
The regular city plows will clear the roads as usual, he added.
