Traffic improvements coming to St. John's, as city passes 2019 capital budget

The City of St. John's approved its 2019 capital budget Monday, with a big focus on transportation improvements.

Some of the spending planned for the year ahead includes new parking at Bowring Park, sidewalk construction and reconfiguring dangerous intersections, Mayor Danny Breen said after Monday night's council meeting.

"It's a very wide variety of money that's expanding on the goals andthe objectives of the city council," said Breenof the roughly $24-million plan for capital projects.

About half that money had already been announced.

Priority projects

More than $4 million of the budget is set aside for streetrehabilitation, but some changes beyond simply patching up roads are planned.

For example, in addition to the required roadwork for the Veteran'sSquare reconfiguration, another $20,000 from the city's parks and open spaces fund has been allocated to create a parkette on Queens Road and add trees and landscaping, Breen said.

"It also takes out one of the more dangerous crosswalks that we have in the city, and one of the longest crosswalks," he said of the parkette, which began as a pilot project.

Changes could also come to the intersection at Mount Scio Road and Allandale Road, where $52,000 allocated for left-turning lanes has been deferred.

Now, council will vote in September on the creation of a left-turning lane on Mount Scio, a change Breen said he favours and hopes to see approved for the traffic-heavy area.

"I think that the Mount ScioRoad-AllandaleRoad intersection, not only does it slow down traffic flow on Mount ScioRoad, but it also creates a dangerous situation for cars making left-handed turns, whether they be headed down AllandaleRoad to get to the parkway or up AllandaleRoad to get to the Outer Ring Road," he said.

Other traffic-related line items in the capital budget include the creation of more accessible parking at Bowring Park, the next phase of work at Linegar Avenue inSheaHeights, and the construction of new sidewalks.

"These are all important projects that need to be done," Breen said.

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