Earlier this year, a group of Innisfil moms launched a campaign asking the town to make the intersection of Line 7 and St. John's Road an all-way stop.
Currently, there are stop signs only for traffic eastbound and westbound on Line 7.
They were told that the intersection does not meet Ontario Traffic Manual warrants for an all-way stop.
Undaunted, the group circulated a petition and gathered more than 300 in-person signatures from Innisfil residents in support of the request, and another 400 online signatures, 200 of which were also from Innisfil.
The petition was presented to the town, and on Aug. 19 the group addressed the school zone-traffic safety advisory committee, presenting their arguments and challenging both the 2019 environmental study report for Line 7 and a more recent staff recommendation “that council direct staff not to proceed with installation of an all-way stop due to safety and operational concerns.”
Sarah Webb, who lives on St. John's Road, told the meeting that safety is the issue — not for vehicular traffic but for the pedestrians who need to cross the busy collector roads in an area without sidewalks.
There is a multi-use pathway on the west shoulder of St. John's Road, but it has no separation from the live lanes of traffic other than paint. And most vehicles travel at speeds in excess of the posted 50 kilometres per hour.
Webb noted both traffic numbers and demographics have changed since the initial study was carried out.
“The demographics of Innisfil have been changing drastically over the past two years,” she said, with many young families moving into the area.
There are now 15 children under the age of 10 in the stretch of St. John's Road near Line 7, and with Lake Simcoe Public School, Nantyr Shores Secondary and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School all within walking distance, and a popular park just south of Line 7, the issue has become acute.
“It has become increasingly dangerous to cross St. John's Road,” she said, noting recent traffic monitoring found the average speed of vehicles north and southbound was 59 kilometres per hour – with 82 vehicles clocked at over 75 kilometres per hour in a seven-day period.
And with “no controlled stoppings nor stop signs along St. John's Road, from Innisfil Beach Road to Maple Street,” there is no safe place for pedestrians to cross, she said.
The staff recommendation was based on the 2019 environmental study report, which concluded the intersection does not meet the Ontario Traffic Manual warrants for either lights or a four-way stop.
An all-way stop is only warranted if the average traffic split, comparing traffic on the main and minor streets, is no more than 70 per cent/30 per cent; if the wait time for traffic on the minor street is 30 seconds or more, or if the average number of collisions in the intersection is four or more per year.
Monitoring found that, on average, the traffic split is 72/28, that vehicles on Line 7 were only waiting 12 to 18 seconds for the opportunity to proceed – and that the average number of collisions in the intersection is 0.67 per year.
Although updated traffic monitoring during a summer long weekend in 2019 found that traffic volumes met the warrant for a four-way stop, all of the other parameters were still not met.
The engineers acknowledged that the curve in St. John's Road at the point where it intersects Line 7 is an issue, but they concluded that safety could be maintained “as long as vegetation near the intersection is kept trimmed.”
Stop signs on the main road (St. John's) were not recommended because they would “introduce significant delays” for northbound and southbound traffic and, the report indicated, “unwarranted" stop signs can make the situation less safe, since “too many signs can discourage safe driving practices.”
Webb questioned why the town would think that “one stop sign would be too many. … There are currently zero stop signs on St. John's Road.” She also challenged the collision statistics, noting that a Freedom of Information request uncovered an additional five collisions in 2020 and 2021, which could meet the warrant for action at the intersection.
“Frankly, it’s quite alarming, after conducting two traffic safety reports, that council has concluded that a four-way stop is unwarranted or even unsafe,” she said. “Anyone can see there’s a huge safety issue for pedestrians.”
Several committee members also expressed concern.
“I know we’ve looked at traffic studies… but I’ve also had dozens of complaints from people in that area,” said Coun. Bill Van Berkel. “Maybe what we should do is listen to the people.”
He noted that the sight line for both pedestrians and vehicles coming around the curve “is very poor.”
Committee member Karlene Doyle agreed, noting there are blind spots for motorists, especially travelling east and north.
But South Simcoe police Sgt. Dave Phillips argued against the request for an all-way stop, explaining that the updated collision numbers may not have referred to the intersection itself but to a stretch of St. John's Road that included Line 7.
He also questioned whether sight lines for north and southbound traffic would allow for the installation of stop signs on St. John's.
“My fear is with a four-way stop, the sight lines aren’t good enough for it,” he said.
“We see people upset about their area all the time,” the sergeant added, noting there are much more dangerous intersections in Innisfil and that Line 7/St. John's Road is not even “in the top 20 of high collision intersections.”
“It’s not a perfect intersection," Phillips added. "It’s an old-school intersection (and) the sight lines are not that great, but that said, we don’t have the collisions there that we do in other places.”
He suggested that one solution might be to straighten the curve at some point.
“I’d like to see it upgraded if we could," Phillips said.
Staff were asked about long-term plans for the intersection. Project manager Carolina Cautillo said that the intersection was "updated" in 2016, but has likely "been in place since the 1950s. It's a quite old configuration."
She noted that any plans for Line 7 are currently on hold because of the Mobility Orbit and plans for Line 6. Committee and residents were referred to the upcoming transportation master plan study meeting (click here) on Aug. 25.
Mayor Lynn Dollin also opposed the request for an all-way stop.
“Everybody thinks that their intersection is the absolute worst,” she said. “If we do it by names on a petition rather than actual staff and engineering studies, then we really put ourselves in a position because we spend money on one intersection, and then the five that the engineers tell us should have been a priority are not done. Then we’ve got a problem.”
Dollin said if the town went by the number of signatures on a petition, “there would be a stop sign on every corner in the town. Everybody wants a stop sign at their corner.”
She admitted “we need to do better” in keeping vegetation cut back and maintaining the multi-use pathway along St. John's Road, especially in winter, but did not support other measures.
Some members suggested alternatives, such as lowering the speed limit at the curve.
Committee member Sam Charles proposed the introduction of speed-calming measures.
“We need to take these residents seriously, so they trust this committee,” rather than automatically rejecting requests, Charles said.
Webb acknowledged there are other intersections that need improvements, but pointed out that the issue is not traffic safety, but pedestrian safety. “We’re all very passionate about safety, and that’s why we’re attending today,” she said.
If a four-way stop isn’t feasible, she suggested the town look at other options.
“I would like to see the road straightened. I would love to see a crosswalk anywhere along St. John's Road for people to cross. There is no safe place for people to cross on St. John's.”
The town’s master plan is all about “walkability," but “we don’t have that in our community. We don’t have sidewalks, we don’t have crosswalks. We’re not talking about vehicle on vehicle, we’re talking about all of the pedestrians on St. John's,” she said.
“We know we have infrastructure deficits everywhere,” said Dollin, who called the paved multi-use walkway along St. John's “a real coup for us,” since to put in a sidewalk would have required the purchase of property all along St. John's.
The committee voted to receive the presentation for information only. No action was recommended.
Afterwards, Webb said, “We were definitely disappointed but certainly not surprised by the outcome" of the meeting.
“We agree that fixing the road itself would be an excellent long-term goal, but are also still committed to finding a more immediate solution. Our neighbourhood deserves the same levels of walkability and safety as others in Alcona," Webb added.
