{"id":3141,"date":"2013-07-17T16:00:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=3141"},"modified":"2013-07-24T16:39:55","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T20:39:55","slug":"new-sidewalk-could-make-things-easier-for-shoppers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/new-sidewalk-could-make-things-easier-for-shoppers\/","title":{"rendered":"New sidewalk could make things easier for shoppers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pedestrians could soon have an easier way to access shopping and services on Earl Stewart Drive.<\/p>\n

Council is set to approve a new sidewalk project for the east side of Earl Stewart Drive which would provide shoppers on foot with better access to local businesses, and destinations such as Superstore, an LCBO and The Beer Store. <\/p>\n

A sidewalk is currently on the west side of the street, allowing foot traffic from the residential neighbourhood at the northwest corner of St. John\u2019s Sideroad and Bayview Avenue near St. Andrew\u2019s Valley Golf Course, but Aurora\u2019s Accessibility Advisor recommended a sidewalk on the east side from St. John\u2019s to Pedersen would be in order.<\/p>\n

If approved, the project comes with a nearly $116,000 price tag.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need for the proposed sidewalk on the east side of Earl Stewart Drive\u2026was identified resulting from concerns from residents attempting to access the Superstore from St. John\u2019s Sideroad,\u201d said Ilmar Simanovskis, Aurora\u2019s Director of Infrastructure, in a report to Council. \u201cThe proposed sidewalk will provide safe pedestrian access to the Superstore and the surrounding businesses that complies with the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposal came forward for Council approval at the end of June, but Councillors voted to hold off on a decision until July 16 pending further information after some Councillors objected to the plan. <\/p>\n

\u201cI recognize that the east side of Earl Stewart Drive is dangerous,\u201d said Councillor Chris Ballard, noting two major entrances to Superstore and the surrounding area. \u201cIt is a crazy place to try and walk and ride a bike. If you have a mobility challenge, it would be even more difficult. However, there is a sidewalk all the way down the west side, so I don\u2019t know why we wouldn\u2019t simply have one or two places between St. John\u2019s and Pedersen and put one or two crosswalks to allow people coming from St. John\u2019s to travel along an already existing sidewalk and not cross over these driveways.\u201d
\nWhile Councillors ultimately supported deferring the project pending further information because it wasn\u2019t necessarily urgent, others, however, wanted to see more immediate action on the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have heard stories last year of individuals trying to cross the street with kids, like a lot of people on the north side [of St. John\u2019s] have, and they aren\u2019t able to get to the Superstore,\u201d said Councillor Paul Pirri of the intersection. \u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time we have seen a report or have emails on the same subject, so really this is a safety issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going ahead was also supported by Councillors Evelyn Buck and John Abel. Both highlighted the safety issues in the area and their stance was, \u2018just get on with it.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a high traffic area,\u201d said Councillor John Abel. \u201cJust do the sidewalk that has been identified. I don\u2019t see any need to defer it.\u201d
\nIn a further report before Councillors this week, Mr. Simanovskis said crosswalks over from the sidewalks already installed on the west side would be impossible unless at an intersection.<\/p>\n

\u201cMid-block crossing can only be provided at intersections in conjunction with intersection pedestrian signals or stop signs where motorists need to come to a complete stop before pedestrians safely cross the road,\u201d he said. \u201cConsidering the distance from intersection to intersection, providing any other type of pedestrian crossing outside of these areas would not provide any more convenience or safety compared to completion of the sidewalk along the east side.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pedestrians could soon have an easier way to access shopping and services on Earl Stewart Drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-OF","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 13:14:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}