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The intersection of Bay and Bloor streets has a traffic signal cycle that includes time for pedestrians to cross in every direction while all vehicles are held at bayKevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail

One of the pedestrian scrambles in downtown Toronto has moved a step closer to removal, with a key city committee voting against it.

The intersection of Bay and Bloor streets has a traffic signal cycle that includes time for pedestrians to cross in every direction while all vehicles are held at bay. According to city staff, though, the delay to motorists is too great and the benefit to pedestrians too small. The staff report urged that it be removed.

On Monday, the public works and infrastructure committee agreed, voting to accept the recommendation while urging a greater attention to pedestrian safety.

"It was a pilot project that simply didn't work," committee chair Jaye Robinson said. "There simply isn't the density in that area at this time to require it."

This scramble is one of three in the city. The ones at Bloor and Yonge streets and Dundas Street and Yonge are seen as more successful. There are higher pedestrian volumes at those two and the impact on vehicle traffic, as measured by the city, is not as pronounced.

The one at Bay and Bloor has raised the hackles of the local business improvement area, which says merchants are being told by customers that congestion is driving them away.

The vote followed deputations from residents about the value of the scramble. There were complaints about what some viewed as insufficient public consultation and that the staff report took too narrow a view about how best to use the roads.

The committee on Monday also accepted a motion from local councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam that there needed to be a serious look at how to improve pedestrian safety at the Bay-Bloor intersection. And it agreed with Ms. Robinson on the need to develop a citywide strategy at reducing the risk for people who walk.

"We want to do our best to address pedestrian safety in Toronto," the chair said, referencing the international Vision Zero campaign that seeks to eliminate pedestrian traffic deaths. "Scrambles could be part of that strategy, but not at Bay and Bloor."

But to Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, Monday's vote is at odds with the goal.

"There are people who … could walk downtown and they don't because it's not safe enough," she said. "We need to send the message that people who walk are just as important as people who drive, as people who bike."

Ms. McMahon was the lone dissenting committee vote on the scramble. The decision over what to do with the intersection must still go to full council for final approval.

The staff recommendation to remove the scramble urged that it be done as soon as possible. Reverting to a traditional signal system at the intersection is projected to cost $26,000.

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