Probably just saved a life and a family.

How about one near CNC on central...always students crossing there.

damned right. I would suggest that there lots more crossing at that location, but don`t quote me.

Such a pedestrian crossing at 8th Avenue or other locations along Highway 97 between 5th avenue and 22nd would go a long way to move Prince George into the era of pedestrian friendly thinking with a lot less push for the automobile mentality. That whole area is very pedestrian unfriendly.

Perhaps also an overpass for pedestrians/cyclists in the area of 2nd or 3rd would be a good move.

Now, how about moving the highway? Get the heavy trucks out of the City and have a ring road? That would really be a smart move.

its called foothills - but what trucks use it?

"These types of trains have been around for some time. There is no reason to believe they would all of a sudden cause more derailments."

Other types of trains have been around for some time as well, in fact even longer. Based on the frequency of derailments, I have the feeling that there

The overpass at the College was the subject of much discussion and debate some 20 years ago. At the time the main reason for crossing there was that the buses were stopping on the east side of Central. The eventual solution was pulling the buses into the College.

I think they should be looking at the pedestrian crossing needs of the entire “bypass” area from 22nd to 5th and provide them spaced in a reasonable fashion where needed.

The entire “bypass” needs to be looked at. There are many solutions. One of them is to depress the road and provide level crossings where the current lighted intersections are. The fact of the matter is that this is a provincial highway cutting though what is now the middle of the city. It is not an unusual circumstance in any city that grows.

Foothills is not intended as a bypass. It might be a part of a good bypass route from the west to the north, but has not been built to that standard – it ends up in an unsignalled T intersection at Chief Lake Road and has a two lane section all along Tyner with a substandard curve where it switches to University Way and has an unsignalled and low visibility egress from UNBC.

Once Foothills extends to Ferry and thus accesses Hwy 16 east in another fashion, there may be more traffic generated as a bypass from North to East. However, it is still a route that is lined primarily with residential sections rather than commercial sections and thus would not be ideal due to noise and road traffic particulates, primarily diesel.

So, back to pedestrians. The overpasses are all built with ramps these days so I do not know why anyone is even mentioning stairs. Once you have ramps, you have access for sidewalk type snow clearing machinery. Other winter cities use heated ramps in such locations with drainage systems to minimize the amount of water coming onto the highway. We have to remember that ramps will also be required to transition from street level to below highway level, albeit that height difference is slightly less.

I think we would be look at a solution to the problem along the entire road rather than just dealing with what at first glance appears to be a single pressure point.

oops... two topics for the price of one ... LOL....

They just spent a lot of time and money on the tunnel under highway16 and already it is having problems. It still hasn't seen a snow fall or a spring flood..so more troubles on the qway.
The same problems, pretty much, will plague a tunnel on highway 97...
so those of you who want the tunnel, moan to those in city hall who ok'd the last one and you got your tunnel...

Can a ring road not go further West than Foothills? Foothills is lined with a residential area on the South.

If they put in a tunnel, will it drain? It seems to me that the elevation would be lower than the storm drains.
I still believe that the above ground option with ramps is the best. If one of their reasons for not going that way is because of stupid people dropping debris on the roadway, then punish the stupid people. Don't plan the world around the 10% of idiots and a$$**les. For snow clearing the side walk machines, like big bird (Owl) says, or get the jailbirds to clean sidewalks and seniors driveways as part of their penance.
metalman.

Owl:"The overpasses are all built with ramps these days so I do not know why anyone is even mentioning stairs. Once you have ramps, you have access for sidewalk type snow clearing machinery."

That is what I was going to comment too! I have looked at pictures of modern pedestrian overpasses and they are very beautiful, practical and decorative assets to the community.

And they are safer because one does not have to go into an underground *cave* where anything can happen out of of other peoples' sight and hearing range.

I never use parkades because of their inherent lurking dangers to personal property and life and I can not picture myself using a tunnel like the one just put in under 20th Avenue.

Those that say that pedestrian overpasses require *climbing stairs* are totally out of touch with 2007 reality.

It's much cheaper to dig a pedestrian ditch under a road than to built a modern overpass, that is why the overpass idea is being dissed by those who have the final say.

Plain and simple.

Elevate the bypass.

The intersection at 10th Ave is just a stones throw away. Are people so lazy that they'll risk their lives crossing a busy highway rather than walking a few yards out of their way? Why should the city bother with any new construction with a pedestrian crossing that close?

I think if one were to look at this in a practical way from the point of view of cost only, then I agree very much with Raparee.

What the City/Highways would have to do to accomplish that is to extend a barrier with some low (4 foot high) evergreen hedges which would cover a chain link fence between the two vehicle accesses between the Bypass and Central Street East. A similar barrier would have to be set up on Central Street West.

Some people may end up walking the extra block to get around such a barrier. To prevent that to some extent a few signs that indicate that crossing the highway at non signalized intersections is against the law (Jaywalking) will lessen the use as well.

Even with a bridge or underpass, some people may find it less convenient to cross the road on grade and will continue to do that, especially at low traffic volumes. In my opinion, any such physical crossing improvement, where people have to go up or down will have to be accompanied by some other surface level barrier.

I am wondering who crosses the at this point – if they are primarily Duchess Park students walking to school or going home? If so, then a bit of awareness raising with the School might help reduce the volume using this as a crossing.

This is in Calgary. They get snow there as well. Maybe they just have more money.

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=932557569&photo_page=1&size=l

Maybe we can build a pedestrian overpass and roundabout at the same time …. ;-)

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=463719923&size=m

That should read "more convenient to cross the road"

Wish there were an edit function before you click to finalize the post ... :-(

Raparee: "Are people so lazy that they'll risk their lives crossing a busy highway rather than walking a few yards out of their way?"

Yes. Obviously jaywalking is a popular pastime.

City officials have made up their minds that an underpass is needed.

One way or another we will get an underpass.

"City officials have made up their minds that an underpass is needed.

One way or another we will get an underpass."

Nicely put diplomat .... it seems to be the way of the world. I often wonder whether the time many of us put into the community makes much of a difference.