MikeCohen.ca

The Cavendish-Kildare Intersection

Traffic signals at the busy corner of Cavendish Boulevard and Kildare Road continue to represent a challenge for our engineering department. At the moment, at this particular intersection, the pedestrians at all corners are given a nine-second head- start (protected phase) before any vehicles waiting at the intersection are allowed to turn left or right onto either Cavendish or Kildare. After nine seconds, the pedestrians are halfway across the intersection and visible to the motorists, making it a safer situation than if vehicles and pedestrians were to start moving simultaneously, which would be the case if we removed the nine-second protected phase. Due to the programming capability of the controller we can either have protected left turns from Kildare onto Cavendish to go north or south, or the protected pedestrian phase. One is a safer option for motorists, the other for pedestrians, but unfortunately we cannot have both.

Our traffic committee has spent a lot of time examining this corner. We are looking at a possible redevelopment of the intersection , at which time a pedestrian refuge or overpass could be created in the middle of the street once we have widened Kildare at this location, as at present there is not enough space to create a pedestrian refuge. We would, however, still like to see some kind of pedestrian concrete or metal barrier on the centre median to increase pedestrians’ safety even in the meantime, though it is not possible due to space requirements.

Merrimac and Kildare Stop Sign

There is a stop sign at the corner of Kildare Road and Merrimac heading towards Cavendish. I repeatedly see cars going right through it. Police Station 9 have promised to keep a closer eye on this intersection. I worry about an accident happening there. This is only a block away from Bialik High School. I would ask that drivers be more careful.

No Parking Signs Removed on Rembrandt Avenue

I recently received a number of calls from residents of Rembrandt Avenue complaining about two no parking signs located on the side of the street of the park entrance. Residents were upset that this caused the loss of some four parking spots. In consultation with our engineering department I was able to have them removed.

Residents of 5740 Rembrandt are having their garage repaired over the next two months. We gave permission for residents to park their cars on the street overnight. However, problems ensued given the fact that on some mornings cars must be moved by 7 a.m. to accomodate street cleaning. This created a hardship for many people who had to get up especially early. With the support of the mayor and our city manager, I was able to get this time moved back to 9 a.m.

Synchronization of Traffic Lights

In response to queries from residents, here is an update on the synchronization of traffic lights on Cavendish Boulevard.

We have been correcting minor issues with the Cavendish light
synchronization program over the last couple of weeks. There was one
serious problem (up to a nine second delay) and a few other minor issues (two to threesecond delays), which collectively offset the syncro by significant seconds (and thus made the system look like it wasn't function. Our staff have driven the circuit quite a few times over the last couple of weeks. Our traffic engineer in particular has spent quite a bit of time verifying and rechecking the cycles. It now appears to be working at optimal cycles now.
Monitoring of the system will certainly continue.

Synchronization of Traffic Lights on Cavendish

The synchronization of traffic lights on Cavendish Boulevard has resulted in a significant benefit to residents of District 2 who have been complaining for years about the intersection of Cavendish and Kildare. It is interesting that pedestrians have long felt that the traffic signal is presently not long enough while motorists feel the opposite way, insisting that the signal is too long when they are trying to turn off Kildare to Cavendish during peak traffic hours.

There are many senior citizens living on Rembrandt and Sir Walter Scott who have been complaining for years that there simply is not a sufficient amount of time for them to cross at Kildare and Cavendish. Our engineering department reports that before the synchronization the time permitted to cross the street was 18 seconds. That has now been expanded to 35 seconds on the south side and 33 seconds on the south. So we have effectively doubled the time allocated for our pedestrians to cross the street.

As for the double left turn that cars make from Kildare to Cavendish, problems associated with this have been raised at the traffic committee meeting. Plans call for some modifications to be made to the fence on Cavendish to increase the visibility for motorists in regard to pedestrians. We will continue monitoring this corner.

Overall the synchronization will see to it that motorists spend less time idling at red lights and pedestrians will be able to cross the road more safely. The new synchronized lights were installed on Cavendish, from Mackle Rd. to Merton Ave. The synchronization project started in May and involved replacing the traffic light controllers, cabinets and heads—which are the traffic lights themselves. The new configuration of the traffic light head feature shapes for better visibility and now include left and right turn signals. The Cavendish Blvd. synchronization project cost $175,000. The new traffic light controllers allow more control over traffic flows. For instance, southbound traffic leaving Côte Saint-Luc has the priority during the morning rush hour. In the afternoon, northbound traffic entering Côte Saint-Luc has the priority. The programming of the traffic lights follows a traffic study, which identified ways to improve traffic flow.
Apart from better road safety and pedestrian safety, synchronized traffic lights can help reduce driving time and vehicle emissions and increase fuel economy, according to the United States Department of Energy. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is of the 15 sustainable development goals Côte Saint-Luc committed itself to this year.

Parking Permits

In recent weeks, a number of people have come forward to complain about the $35 monthly fee for overnight parking on the street. I really wish citizens would pay closer attention to publications such as the Côte Saint-Luc Courier, our website and the local press. From the outset of our mandate we repeated that overnight parking was under study. The only people we heard from were those who did not want to see any cars on the street. When we adopted the new rates, going from $10 to $35 in December, we waited an extra month after the initial debate at a public meeting to leave time for the public respond. Some did, but a tiny minority. Once the new bills were mailed out in January, the complaints picked up. I understand many of these individuals' concerns. I just wish they would have stepped forward much earlier. Prior to the forced mergers in 2002, there was no such thing as overnight parking. Those that proved they neeed to do so, paid $5o a month. Yes, $50!!!! The borough of Côte Saint-Luc-Hampstead-Montreal West lowered the fee to $10 and did not enforce the rules. Many of the people purchasing permits did so to simply save money from renting available spots in their buildings. A committee set up by the mayor actually suggested we return to the $50 fee. He pushed for a compromise at $35. The majority of residents did vote to demerge. That meant getting back the Côte Saint-Luc that was taken from them. Well, that included the $50 fee. Our mayor has listened to the protests. He is working towards a few potential resolutions, including making some public lots available. What else can we do? For starters, we have to ensure those people requesting spots on the street are doing so legitimately. Do they need to park on the street because there is no other option? That is the question.