City Council passed a recommendation on Monday from the Public Works, Infrastructure and Environment Advisory Committee to set up a crosswalk at the intersection of Thatcher Drive and Iron Bridge Drive.

The crosswalk will include painted lines, advanced warning signs, and the speed is expected to be reduced from 60 km/h to 50.

City manager Jim Puffalt said the intersection can be hard to see for motorists.

"As you come around and go to the Iron Bridge crossing as you know you are going down a slight depression, there's a railroad track and then up the hill on the other side. It's a little bit of a more hard-to-see area so that is where it is believed the speed reduction would be useful in that particular area."

A pedestrian count will also be completed before June of 2021 so that options can be brought back to council for further enhancements.

Coun. Chris Warren, who put forward the motions, added that Iron Bridge is a growing community and further enhancements might be needed, such as overhead pedestrian lights similar to what's in place at 11th Avenue N.W. and Thatcher Drive.

"We may be in a position where, because of the playground, because of the enhanced amenities we may have more pedestrians in it and may in fact warrant a pedestrian push-button similar to what we have at 11th or it may not. I think that is the goal here is some interim solution so we can get some good data in the spring of next year."

A crosswalk in the area was first looked in on Jan. 9, 2019, then a warrant review was done which denied the request for a crossing in the general area of Simcoe Street and Thatcher Drive based on traffic and pedestrian volumes.

On Aug. 26, 2019, the city received a petition from the Iron Bridge community showing that 58 of 58 households supported the installation of a pedestrian crossing. The city sent out letters to residents on Simcoe Street as well as the VLA gate areas. The responses showed 12 of 16 respondents were in favour of a crossing.

Puffalt added that the crosswalk was already budgeted as part of the TR1 intersection improvements. The motions passed unanimously.