It seems Queen’s Quay is always in the news for some traffic incident. It’s not because the incidents are particularly bad. It’s because they’re particularly interesting. The common theme of minor and no injuries ties most of them together. The exceptions being when a pedestrian walked in front of a bus and survived and when a driver operated their sports car into the side of a building. I’d argue you can’t design against the kind of idiot fuel necessary to drive your car into a building. The pedestrian however could have had some help.

Good design should be obvious and intuitive. Queens Quay’s design is neither. That’s its problem. It holds a special place on that front because it is at the centre of the biggest tourist attractions in Toronto. The Martin Goodman Trail which runs through it is even considered an attraction in its own right by the city. There are going to be a lot of people in this area that are unfamiliar with it. For their safety and everyone else’s this area needs to be obvious in its intended usage. It’s not.

Every mode of transportation has a dedicated space. Motorized vehicles, streetcars, bicycles, and pedestrians. However, you’d be excused for not knowing where each lane begins and ends. Streetcars, bicycles, and pedestrians are supposed to stay on concrete, pavement and brick respectively. They’re all at the same grade and poorly marked. At intersections your guess is as good as mine. If you’re looking down at your phone or a map or your about to miss your streetcar it’s really easy to wander into a place you’re not supposed to be. But things don’t move quickly down here so injuries should be minimal if they can’t be avoided completely.

The motorists have the clearest lane because it’s at a different grade than the rest of the street. A curb separates it. But that’s not true everywhere and it’s why I talked about the history of the street in part 1. Between York and Bay streets Queens Quay eastbound splits in two. It’s to provide motorists access to the buildings on the south side of the street. It’s the legacy Queens Quay’s past. These buildings need access. Accommodations were made and aesthetics were not compromised. But good design was.

The intersection at York St. is where most incidents happen on Queen’s Quay. Bricks suddenly become both for pedestrians and motorists. The only separation? A different type of brick There aren’t even painted lines or arrows indicating where to be. Drivers could be excused for not knowing that this is their part of the road when for all intents and purposes it appears to be the sidewalk.

Add to that pedestrians are encouraged to freely wander around the intersection. There is 26 metres of brickwork separating the bike path from the motorists with no markings indicating where pedestrians should be. Just dotted lines indicating the cyclepath. A cyclepath with traffic signals that are 45 metres away from the stop line. At a decent speed that will take 8 or 9 seconds to cross. The signal changes from green to red in 3 seconds.

Some relatively easy fixes would help out here. Add a curb and pave all motorist areas for consistency. Paint the bike path. Even someone looking at their phone is going to notice a green path as they approach. Move the bike signals closer and change the timing to keep cyclists out of cross traffic. Put a raised barrier beside the streetcar tracks and have openings at the stops. This will keep people from accidentally crossing in front of streetcars. Lastly, move the newly installed streetcar gates to the intersection so that drivers can’t get on the streetcar tracks in the first place. These four relatively easy steps can make Queens Quay much easier to navigate.

I know there are other issues with Queens Quay but I chose not to address them for one reason. Since the redesign there have been exactly zero serious injuries on Queens Quay with one exception. The York St. intersection.