B.C.’s Minister of Transportation is working with the District of Kitimat to improve safety for kids crossing Hwy. 37 to the new McDonald’s restaurant on the eastern edge of town.
Since the grand opening of the popular fast-food outlet March 8, Kitimat drivers have flooded social media groups with worries about school children crossing the highway’s uncontrolled intersection with Nalabila Blvd, roughly 500m south of McDonald’s.
“Coming back from Terrace around lunch time. Kids running crossing the highway,” wrote one user. “Not good — wait till night with pouring rain. Going to be tragic.”
The district confirmed March 15 they are working out the details with the province to install an illuminated crosswalk at Nalabila Blvd. It’s hoped this will connect pedestrians to new developments off Kitamaat Village Road where they can safely complete their walk to the restaurant. A district spokesperson said it’s still too early to say who will pay for the upgrades.
“This work will involve the District, ministry and the property developer, and all the plans are still being developed at this point.”
The restaurant is located on the highway’s edge where there are no sidewalks and few pedestrian controls. Residents are particularly worried about students from nearby St. Anthony’s elementary school, crossing the highway and walking along the shoulder after school and during lunch.
Responding to calls from constituents and the social media frenzy, Skeena MLA Ellis Ross had raised the issue with Transportation Minister Rob Flemming during Estimates debates in the Legislature March 12.
Fleming veered from the customary process to say he needed to investigate and address the matter outside of the day’s session, but committed to speaking with the district and finding “the best interventions to get people safely across the road.”
Prior to the restaurant’s opening, Ross said he was asked by the developer to help with some outstanding permit approvals, but issues of pedestrian access were never raised. Despite the cooperation from the parties involved, correcting the failure, he added, is now a tricky jurisdictional issue as the municipal boundary ends at the Nalabila Blvd intersection.
“I know there were conversations about the sign and the trees when the province issued the permit, and I have to wonder if the topic of this intersection ever came up. I’ll sit down with the minister or grab him in the hallway to find out what was discussed during the permitting process.”
In addition to the crosswalks, residents are calling for sidewalks and added transit stops on the highway.
Many also worry about the fast-approaching summer months when groups of kids on bikes and skateboards will most certainly be flocking to the restaurant.
One Facebook user described already having to swerve around a three boys walking abreast, blocking one lane of traffic as he turned the blind corner from the restaurant onto the highway.
“Fortunately there was no opposing traffic, so I took the opposite lane to go around them,” he wrote. “Accident waiting to happen.”
Kitimat RCMP has not received any calls pertaining to pedestrian incidents around the restaurant, however a spokesperson said they have been proactively monitoring the area to study the restaurant’s influence on traffic volumes.
The Northern Sentinel has reached out to the McDonald’s franchisee for comment.