Finishing touches are being put on a new pedestrian crosswalk near the Ojibway Nature Centre on Matchett Road.
Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis says the crosswalk is the result of a traffic calming study after hearing from residents who wanted more safety enhancements on the busy road.
"A lot of people go to the Ojibway Nature Reserve. A lot of people park across the street and walk over, so having that additional added safety feature for pedestrians to cross the road, I think will go a long way and hopefully gets people in cars to slowdown and be mindful of the fact that this is a busy area with a lot of people crossing the road to get to the nature reserve."
He says he's heard from people who had asked for more paved areas around Ojibway.
"'Why don't you guys add more infrastructure and pave this and pave that and add this and add that?', but we can't because you're dealing with an environmentally sensitive area with a tremendous amount of species at risk. So you can't just go in there and pave everything. You can't pay the shoulders, you can't do any of that."
Francis calls it a delicate balance while wanting to add as many safety features as they can.
"We also have to be mindful of species at risk and the environment in which we're operating in and enhancing. So we always have to strike that delicate balance and sometimes it takes time and this is a perfect example where it takes about a year or so, but eventually when it's done and it's there, I think it's a benefit to everybody."
He says weather dependent, construction should finish soon.
