I have some major concerns with Crosslinx's road safety management with this project. They are handling it incredibly irresponsibly.
About two years ago, I personally witnessed a collision between two motor vehicles, that was quite clearly caused by Crosslinx's negligent safety management. In short, Crosslinx failed to remove outdated lane markings. They just painted new lane markings on top of the old. This resulted in conflicting lane markings directing drivers in two adjacent lane to occupy the same space on the road. The two drivers did exactly what the lane markings told them to do, and ended up in a collision as a result. This should've been a major wake up call, but alas...
I was travelling westbound on Eglinton at Ionview last night. The westbound lanes were closed, and westbound drivers were supposed to detour onto the eastbound lanes (on the southside of the road) to travel west.
There was no signage or police presence to indicate that the westbound lanes were closed. All they had were two or three barely visible pylons located in an
unlit portion of the road to indicate that the westbound lanes were closed. Given how dark it was, it would not be unreasonable to expect a driver travelling at high speed to fail to observe the pylons until it was too late to stop.
Even more concerning, there was only a single sign directing westbound drivers to travel in the eastbound lane. Other than a single "merge left" sign, there was nothing at all directing these drivers to detour via the eastbound lanes.
Please consider how complex this street is right now. The street was very wide, largely unlit, and has an unused centre median. It was not at all clear whether westbound drivers were supposed to turn left, move into the centre median, or detour onto the eastbound lanes. The unlit eastbound lanes had no visible markings or signage to indicate that westbound drivers were supposed to detour onto the eastbound lanes.
Over and over again I saw drivers stop in the centre of the intersection for extended periods, clueless about what they were supposed to do. Some even made dangerous moves, such as turning left without a protected left signal, because they were unable to determine what to do.
Further, as we continued westbound down the detour via the eastbound lanes, there were no stoplights at
any of the intersections for the westbound drivers detouring via the eastbound lanes. Nor was there any police presence or signage explaining what to do. The normal westbound stoplights (located on the northern half of the road) were working, but they were barely visible from the detour on the southside of the road. Those stoplights were not in our line of vision (again, remember how
wide this road is), and were frequently obstructed by transit shelters or other obstacles. It would be very easy for a driver unfamiliar with the area to obliviously speed through the intersection on a "red" light, which very well could become a fatal accident. I would have zero expectation whatsoever for an out-of-town driver to recognize that they need to stop at these intersections.
Now I noticed that Crosslinx did occasionally have employees posted at some of these conflict locations. I supposed they were supposed to be directing traffic, but they were clearly preoccupied with other things, or just not paying attention, so they were useless.
I have never before seen road safety management this poor with any project in the City of Toronto. I know City Councillors have made complaints about this, but Metrolinx and Crosslinx have been completely unresponsive. It's clear that they have no interest in ensuring a safe environment for road users along the Crosstown route.
