Nelson city council has decided not to move forward with scramble crosswalks proposed for Baker and Ward streets and Baker and Josephine streets, at least for now.
A scramble crosswalk is a type of traffic signal movement that stops all vehicle traffic, allowing pedestrians to cross in every direction, including diagonally. Council asked staff to investigate the idea in July 2025.
Senior planner Ken Bourdeau returned to council on Jan. 6 with staff’s findings, which ultimately recommended delaying implementation.
After reviewing traffic patterns, pedestrian volumes and similar crossings in other municipalities, staff found that while the concept may be appropriate long term, implementation would require significant capital investments.
The estimated costs – between $200,000 and $500,000 per intersection – largely considers the need to replace aging traffic signal systems and relocate sidewalk infrastructure, rather than the crosswalks themselves.
While scramble crosswalks can reduce vehicle-pedestrian collisions and improve pedestrian comfort, there were questions about whether the investment is justified for the current state of downtown.
Councillor Jesse Woodward noted that the city has relatively low pedestrian and vehicle volumes compared with larger communities.
“It works really well with huge volumes of people and traffic,” he said, reflecting on a scramble crosswalk he observed while in Victoria.
“But I’m just thinking about the volume here in town. You have your morning peak and your after-work peak. But generally throughout the day, it’s not huge volume. So is there actual value in spending all that money to move people or do we not have the volume to do it?”
Council also discussed the potential long-term benefits of integrating scramble crosswalks with planned downtown upgrades.
Staff noted that several existing downtown traffic signals are nearing the end of their service life, which could provide an opportunity to revisit the concept in the coming years.
Councillor Leslie Payne supported that idea, noting that coordination with future downtown projects would be more practical and cost-efficient than implementing it independently.
“The infrastructure that needs to be upgraded anyway at some point in the future, but accelerating that type of expense at this point doesn’t make sense. But as we are doing that Baker Street redesign, is this something we need to incorporate as we go forward?”
Bordeau’s report found the concept to be better implimented after the city’s Downtown Urban Design Strategy is deployed. That document will act as a roadmap for changes to the downtown core, including the Baker Street streetscaping project.
It was noted that implementation ahead of a planned Baker Street streetscaping project could create “misalignment” and “undermine the planning process.”
Instead, staff recommended an integrated approach. Council agreed and voted against the concept until the downtown design strategy is deployed, at which point the idea may be brought forward again.
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