Vancouver looks to implement scramble crosswalks

The City of Vancouver is looking to implement scramble crosswalks at the city's busiest and most dangerous intersections.

A pedestrian scramble crosswalkallowsan intersection to act as a six-way crossing,letting pedestrians walk diagonally across the intersection.

"We are reviewing it now," said Jerry Dobrovolny, Vancouver's director of transportation.

"Pedestrians are the highest priority in our transportation system and so one thing a scramble intersection can do is to increase pedestrian safety."

He said the city is trying to find the best location to pilot the project.

"So the art is to find the location where you've got more pedestrian trips, or either the same or less vehicle trip, and then you could look at reallocating some of the signal times to the pedestrians and the scramble phase," Dobrovolny said.

The city is looking at a dozen intersections, including Cambie Street at West Broadway and Hastings Street at Main Street.

It's expected the first scramble intersection could be operational by summer 2012.