07/30/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/30/2024 17:46
Today, the City activated a pedestrian scramble at the intersection of Granville and Robson External website, opens in new tab streets that will increase pedestrian priority at the location.
The pedestrian scramble at Granville and Robson has signal phasing that offers people the ability to cross simultaneously in all directions, including diagonally, while vehicle movement is stopped in all directions.
The Granville-Robson pedestrian scramble includes accessible pedestrian signals (APS) that provide audible and vibrotactile cues to alert people who are blind or who have low vision to the walk cycle. The intersection of Granville and Robson streets was chosen for a pedestrian scramble due to its consistently high pedestrian volumes and prominent location.
(The installation of scramble paint markings were delayed due to rain and will be installed Wednesday evening.)
City staff will closely monitor the intersection's performance, guiding potential modifications and future implementation at other locations.
In 2023, Council directed staff PDF file (331 KB) to advance a design and pilot a pedestrian scramble at the intersection of Granville and Robson streets and engage with stakeholders, including the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), to inform the design.
Vancouver was one of the first cities in the world to implement a pedestrian scramble at Granville and Hastings streets that was in operation from 1953 until 1970. More recently, in 2019 the City installed an all-walk phase at the intersection of Hornby and Robson streets to stop all vehicle traffic to let pedestrians cross in all crosswalks simultaneously. However, this location does not include a diagonal crossing.