A new crosswalk along 15th Avenue would be too costly, according to city staff.
During Monday night's meeting, council received a report from the operations department outlining a cost of at least $440,000 to accommodate a November request from the Aboriginal Business Development Centre.
Last summer, employees of the centre - located near Quinn Street - started a petition for a new pedestrian crossing after witnessing people darting across the four-lane road instead of heading to crossings at either Ospika Boulevard or Nicholson Street South.
Council directed staff to take a closer look to determine if there was a rationale for the study last fall.
"Us going to this length would not necessarily mean a crosswalk happens," cautioned Coun. Murry Krause at the time.
And with the nearly half-million dollar price tag for a fully signalized pedestrian crossing, it's not likely to go ahead.
"Preliminary study indicates that a crosswalk is not warranted at the 15th Avenue and Quinn Street location," said the staff report. "Administration will be doing no further work to refine the warrant requirements for this intersection."
It's an outcome that disappointed the crosswalk's advocates at the Aboriginal Business Development Centre.
"As much as we appreciate the research that they did into our concerns, the result is definitely frustrating," said centre employee Kallie Smith. The most frustrating part of the response is the cost, she added.
"To me, being just an average citizen, the proposed amount is a little bit ridiculous. I have a hard time understanding how a crosswalk can cost in the neighbourhood of $440,00," Smith said.
According to the staff report, such an addition would need new traffic poles, underground wiring, traffic and pedestrian signal heads, signage and pedestrian push buttons. A sidewalk would also be required on the north side of the intersection to provide a destination and safe crossing route across the raised median separating 15th Avenue from the residential road. And since BC Hydro uses the that median as an overhead power distribution corridor, there would be further financial impacts associated with their issues.
Smith said her office will potentially have an independent review of the numbers done, for their own curiosity.
Other factors that have to be considered for a traffic control device include vehicular volume at different time intervals, pedestrian volume and crash experience.
"In the event that council is interested in investigating this request for a pedestrian traffic signal further, it is recommended that a comprehensive engineering study of the traffic conditions, road safety analysis and a functional design... be undertaken," said the staff report.
Based on pedestrian counts done in September and October, there isn't enough traffic to warrant a signalized crossing, the report said. ICBC crash data between 2008 and 2012 indicated there were nine incidents at the 15th and Quinn intersection - two causing personal injury and none involving pedestrians.
Operations superintendent Bill Gaal said the city will be reviewing the potential of moving the bus stop from which passengers were jaywalking closer to a signalized crossing over the summer.
