Abstract Manager

The safety of children is of great societal importance and their travel to and from school every day gives them great exposure. Taking a proactive approach to improve school travel safety, the City of Burnaby engaged McElhanney to develop a plan that will improve safety around all Elementary schools in District 41 (i.e. 41 public and 2 private) with a focus on pedestrian safety and traffic operations particularly around the pick-up/drop activities. There is also the desire to have an overall plan for the schools in the City so that treatments are consistent and equitable across all schools while taking into account the fact that each school is unique due to its location, transportation connections, catchment area, programs offered, and school facilities present. The City desires to have a plan for the schools that it can budget for and implement in the short and medium term through its capital program.

The first phase of this project focused on the top 10 priority schools, which were selected based on ICBC’s collision data from 2011 to 2020 and filtered by the number and type of collisions within the vicinity of each schools. A site review was conducted at each school during the morning and afternoon pick-up/drop-off periods. In addition, interview surveys were also conducted with school principals, PAC chairs, and adult crossing guards to identify any location-specific safety concerns. Traffic data was also reviewed as part of this process and additional traffic data were collected where necessary to help support the development of preliminary recommendations. The concept designs for the top 10 priority schools, along with their associated cost estimates were included as part of the City’s 5-year capital plan.  With limited funding availability, cost-effective recommendations were developed for the top 10 schools to receive equitable and consistent improvements. A prioritization methodology was subsequently established to help inform the City’s capital budgeting process over the coming years