Lit crosswalk, speed limit change eyed for Lakeshore Road

The number of pedestrian crossovers — lit crosswalks — in Sarnia is expected to hit 14 by the end of the year, the city’s development and transportation manager says.

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“We receive a number of requests to install them around the city in a given year,” Alister Brown said about the type of crossing. Sarnia’s first was in 2017.

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“We have the budget and the capacity to do a few per year,” he said, noting requests are evaluated and prioritized by city staff.

“We try to get them in where they are appropriate.”

The latest is proposed for Lakeshore Road, crossing from the Howard Watson nature trail to Mike Weir Park.

City council in September authorized requesting county permission — Lakeshore is a county road — for the project, estimated at around $70,000.

A decision is expected in early October and hopes are to have the job done by the end of the year, Brown said.

With it comes a speed-limit change — creating a 60 km/h zone between Moores Lane and 45 meters east of Jamieson Lane.

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Currently that stretch is 70 km/h, but speeds can’t be above 60 km/h where a pedestrian crossover is installed, Brown said.

The end effect would be a 60 km/h zone sandwiched between 50 and 70 km/h zones, he said.

City council told staff in July to seek public feedback on the proposed changes.

“We feel like we responded to each accordingly and, after revisiting the speed reduction limits, we felt comfortable moving forward,” Brown said.

The 60 km/h zone initially was proposed to extend further west, to Wilmers Lane, he said.

But it seemed, after reflecting, better to keep the spot, near Jamieson Lane, where the speed limit change sign already exists, he said.

“We got back to the drawing board and said ‘Why change something where we already have a transition limit?’” Brown said.

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“It still gave us plenty of buffer between there and where the (crossing) will be installed.”

The crossover would also link people on the Howard Watson nature trail to the waterfront park, and the nearby Nick Malik walkway on the Old Lakeshore Road right-of-way, he said.

The city’s Bluewater trails committee made the request about two years ago, amid people creating their own impromptu pathways from the nature trail to the park, he said.

“It really is a good opportunity,” to link active transportation networks, Brown said, noting the crossover is planned for the east end of the park “to avoid any potential conflict with a vehicle turning right out of the park.”

Design work for pedestrian access to another section of the Old Lakeshore Road right-of-way, upon which city officials say adjacent property owners have encroached — city council voted in 2022 to reaffirms its ownership — is in the works, Brown said.

“We’d start getting into it pending budget approval in maybe 2025 and kind of take a phased approach to implementation,” he said.

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