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An engineering manager with the City of Saskatoon says there are no plans to make a transit stop in the Silverspring neighbourhood more accessible for the dozens of care home residents living across the street.
Most of the residents at two care homes across the street from the stop on Kristjanson Road use wheelchairs, power chairs or walkers. That means they aren’t able to step up the curb to safely wait for the bus, and many have great difficulty navigating a 100-foot stretch of open grass that leads to the transit stop.
Residents also said the transit bus that stops there can’t deploy its accessibility ramp because doing so blocks the entire road, which has on-street parking on both sides.
After reporting on the issues earlier this week, 650 CKOM sent the City of Saskatoon an interview request to ask if there were any plans for improvements in that area. In response, the city sent a statement from engineering manager Nathalie Baudais.
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“Accessibility remains a strategic goal for the City and its residents. Kristjanson Road has been identified for improvement,” Baudais said in the statement. “However, there (are) many competing needs and the City attempts to balance them in a responsible way.”
Baudais said locations with missing sidewalks are prioritized to determine which locations will “have the most impact on the safety and walkability of the pedestrian network.”
The missing sidewalk on Kristjanson Road is currently listed as “priority 4,” and there are no plans – even in the next several years – to add a sidewalk to that location.
“Kristjanson Road was not included on this list and, at this time, there is no scheduled construction date for the missing sidewalks along this section,” the city’s statement read.
The city noted that a feasibility assessment for sidewalk construction in that particular area has not yet been completed.
The city’s Accessibility Action Plan, which was adopted in 2008, calls for a “structured approach to sidewalk repairs, curb ramp installations (and) audible traffic signals.”