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An accident in the making

Civic politicians renew call for pedestrian overpass adjacent to TFN malls
overpass
Improvements were made to the intersection of Highway 17 and 52nd Street prior to the opening of the malls earlier this month, but that work didn’t include a pedestrian overpass.

It's an accident waiting to happen.

That's the warning members of Delta council conveyed Monday during discussion on their continued attempts to convince the provincial government to build a pedestrian overpass at Highway 17 and 52nd Street, efforts that have hit nothing but dead ends.

Following a Delta delegation to Victoria earlier this year to once again raise the issue, the Ministry of Transportation commissioned a business case for the proposed overpass. Pegged at roughly $5 million, an overpass was deemed to have no significant benefit.

Civic engineering director Steven Lan said that conclusion completely misses the mark, considering pedestrians trying to access two large shopping malls now open at the Tsawwassen First Nation have to cross an increasingly busy Highway 17. Lan said pedestrians have to traverse a 40-metre-long crosswalk across seven lanes of traffic and two additional turning lanes beyond the pedestrian refuge islands. Pedestrians trying to cross at night are placed at even further risk. Ferry traffic exacerbates the situation.

Lan showed council members video footage from a drone of pedestrians trying to get by all that vehicular traffic, including shocking footage of one man deciding to take a risky run across the highway.

He said Delta will ask the province to conduct safety reviews at Highway 17 and 52nd Street.

Noting the civic report comes during Pedestrian Safety Week, police Chief Neil Dubord said the length of the intersection combined with the speed of traffic, in addition to the timing of the signal lights, makes it difficult for people to cross in a timely fashion.

Mayor Lois Jackson said if someone is run over, one lawsuit could cost $5 million.

Coun. Ian Paton agreed, noting Highway 17 on Vancouver Island has several pedestrian overpasses, adding Delta's analysis found overpasses in other Lower Mainland communities with fewer challenges for pedestrians. "I think that if there's ever a piece of highway that's deserving of a pedestrian overpass, it would be Highway 17 in front of the mall," he said.

CAO George Harvie said during busy times at the intersection the refuge islands fill beyond capacity, leading to a dangerous situation.

"If this was Delta (jurisdiction), we would have made sure that the applicant, the developer, would have paid for that infrastructure as part of an amenity... Also, the bus stops are absolutely jammed on Highway 17 and that's how they're crossing over. Sad part, there's so few buses and I've seen buses that actually pass them because they're already full, from the ferry and from their first stop," added Harvie.

Coun. Sylvia Bishop said she's seen the pedestrian islands jammed with people and not everyone is able to move briskly.

"It's a real failure on the part of the ministry not to insist that either they build it or the TFN in partnership with their business partners provide this overpass. It's an accident waiting to happen," she said. Coun. Bruce McDonald noted Delta has been trying to get an overpass built since the inception of the mall projects years ago, but has been rebuffed every time, so someone may "pay the price."