The City announced today that beginning Oct. 15 the east portion of City Square plaza between Scarth and Cornwall St. will be open to west-bound vehicle traffic on days when the plaza isn’t closed for other events. The other half of the plaza, between Cornwall and Lorne St., will open to west-bound traffic at a later date once construction on 18 block Lorne St. is finished.
The header on the city press release is Share the Square. What that means is that once motorists are allowed onto the square, they will be expected to share the space with flesh-and-blood humans who won’t be encased in multi-tonne shells of metal, plastic and glass like them. That message is reinforced on signage at entry points to the plaza (see above). We’ll see how motorists adapt to the notion of sharing space with non-motorists, along with limiting themselves to a driving speed of 20 k.p.h. on the plaza.
At present, the driving lane is delineated only by yellow reflectors (see the photo after the jump). I don’t know if further steps will be taken to guide traffic as come winter any time there’s any measurable snowfall the reflectors will be covered up until the snow can be cleaned away by city crews. Even now, they’re not exactly prominent.
