Hmmmm.

In this month’s City of Sydney Local Pedestrian, Cycling and Traffic Calming Committee, there is an item regarding pedestrian improvements to Little Regent St, Chippendale.

The intersection currently consists of a painted traffic island, resulting in an unprotected, very wide crossing for pedestrians accessing Central Station and Chinatown:

Below is the proposed design of a raised pedestrian crossing.

The document comments:

The TfNSW warrant for a raised pedestrian crossing was not satisfied, however, given the large numbers of pedestrians crossing this location and that a raised pedestrian crossing would improve safety, facilitate a continuous pedestrian link along Lee Street and slow vehicle speeds, it is proposed to proceed with the proposal.

This proposal was previously referred to TfNSW as a Continuous Footpath Treatment (CFT), however after further consideration TfNSW advised their preference for a Raised Pedestrian Crossing at this location.

So it feels good to have TfNSW supporting the need for a pedestrian crossing treatment despite not technically meeting the warrants (requirements).

Meanwhile, each month, City of Sydney have consistently been installing a bunch of Continuous Footpath Treatments around the place to prioritise pedestrians. (As you may have also noticed, to set a strong tone, unlike other local councils, their Local Traffic Committee is also uniquely renamed “Local Pedestrian, Cycling and Traffic Calming Committee”).

On a technical note the TfNSW RMS Guidelines to Continuous Footpath Treatments states:

Under the road rules, a footpath is a road related area. When entering, or crossing, a road related area from a road, drivers must give way to any pedestrians or other road users on the road related area.

Therefore, where pedestrian priority is desirable but a regulatory pedestrian crossing is not warranted, a continuous footpath treatment that is not differentiated in colour and texture from the adjacent footpath may be a suitable solution.

So basically, it looks like there isn’t a huge amount of difference except that a pedestrian crossing seems to be significantly and more visibly marked. What do you think? Do you have a preference?