Additional flex posts have been installed to make the southwest corner of Main Street and
Hawthorne Avenue safer, and further improvements will be made during the Greenfield-MainHawthorne project.
John Dance
In August, The Mainstreeter reported on the dangerous southwest corner of Main and Hawthorne. The City subsequently took steps to improve safety and additional measures will be implemented once the Greenfield-Main-Hawthorne (GMH) project resumes in earnest.
The two smashed flex stakes at the corner have been replaced and, of greater significance, six additional flex stakes have been installed on the Hawthorne side to force vehicles away from the sidewalk and to provide additional space for pedestrians at the corner.
This is a distinct improvement. However, flex stakes are removed in the fall for snow clearance activities so pedestrians will lose the new protection until the stakes are reinstalled in the spring.
“The improvements made during the summer were completed in transition to the final design as part of the Greenfield-Main-Hawthorne project,” says Bruce Kenny, the City’s manager for design and construction.
In terms of the final design of the GMH project, “The intersection of Hawthorne Avenue and Main Street presented many challenges, including the close proximity of the buildings on the southwest corner to the street and the unique roadway alignment,” says Kenny.
“Although constrained by the tight right of way and building fabric, and the need to continue to accommodate the truck route on Hawthorne Avenue and Main Street, the proposed design provides as much space as possible for pedestrians on the southwest corner of the intersection within the constraints,” says Kenny.
The proposed design will shift the eastbound lanes to the north so that there will be additional space between the curb and the “vehicular turning tracks.” Further, the road geometry will be realigned to improve the turning radius. Another improvement will be the realignment of the storm sewer so that it doesn’t encroach on the sidewalk as it now does.
Also, the new design adds a concrete ripple strip to discourage vehicles from tracking too close to the curb line. With the current design, the rear wheels of vehicles, particularly larger ones, have regularly gone over the low curb and onto the sub-standard sidewalk, something that could crush pedestrians.
A final improvement, as suggested by Councillor Shawn Menard, would be to install steel bollards to further dissuade vehicles from cutting the corner too tight.
“The project enhancements will allow large, heavy vehicles such as transports and large buses to make the turn from eastbound on Hawthorne Avenue to southbound on Main Street without driving over the curb or conflicting with northbound Main Street traffic,” says Kenny.
One improvement that the City will not pursue is requesting additional land from the province so that the entire Hawthorne roadway could be shifted a metre or two farther away from the building at the southwest corner of Main and Hawthorne.
“The Province has indicated they would not be in a position to discuss disposal of property until after the Highway 417, Canal and Main Street bridge replacement project designs have been completed and their needs for construction are fully understood,” says Kenny.
He is also of the view that “(a)djusting the intersection to the north would not significantly improve the southwest turn movement. The proximity of the building on this corner limits the improvements possible to the curb radius around the southwest corner and has the impact of further skewing the through movement for vehicles proceeding straight on Hawthorne Avenue.”
Although the idea of land acquisition from the province has been rejected, Kenny says, “(f)urther acquisition of property on both the Main Street and Hawthorne Avenue frontages has been identified as being desirable if the property becomes available.
