A Barrier-Free Community

One of my favourite records as a child was a collection of old cowboy songs. One that has stuck with me started with the following lyrics:

I'm going to leave

Old Texas now

They've got no use

For the long-horned cow.

They've plowed and fenced

My cattle range....

For years, that image of fencing the open range has stayed with me. Fences change everything. They create barriers, close off what was open. They divide and separate, saying "mine" and "yours", or "us" and "them". What really is their value? Even the adage "Good fences make good neighbours" has not convinced me that they always have a benefit. Why do we need them?

I ask myself this question regularly when I see what I believe are unnecessary fences.

I start with the development where I live - Heron View. When it was built in the early 1990s, a fence was installed between the marsh and the rock rip rap. People who have lived here a long time believe the purpose of the fence was to keep dogs out of the sensitive nesting areas of the marsh. Dogs are very disturbing to wildlife and the desire to keep them out of this area is understandable. 

However the fence has been known to cause problems. I have seen turtles swimming back and forth, trying to get through, as well as mother ducks with their brood. While tiny chicks can easily negotiate their way through the narrow spaces of the fence, an adult duck can not. So the ducklings swim back and forth through the fence on one side, while the mother swims its length on the other side, over and over again. Recently an enterprising citizen enlarged a few access points so hopefully the fence will prove less of a barrier in the future.

The Heron View fence at high water - a barrier to turtles and adult ducks.

Parks Canada recognized the impact of fences on wildlife when the Trans Canada Highway was fenced on both sides through Banff National Park. The crossing below is one of apparently 55 similar ones in Canadian national parks. It straddles both the highway, and the fences on either side. Large carnivores like wolves and bears may take several years to get used to the crossing - but they do eventually!

Connecting two sides of the Trans Canada Highway. The highway itself is also a wildlife barrier of course. But the fences installed for wildlife and traffic safety are also barriers. Source: https://www.earthrangers.com/wildwire/risk/caution-wildlife-corridor-ahead/

The same reasons we use fences for wildlife, such as safety and danger, are put forth to justify fences in our pedestrian spaces. Certainly a fence to separate a play area from a busy road makes sense.  

Fletcher Park and the fence separating the play area from Okanagan Avenue 

A fence surrounds the new location of the Shuswap Kids Club. I hope that the yellow rented fence is temporary and is replaced with something more aesthetic. These quickly installed fences are becoming more common around the city.

But are fences always justified? They break up walkways for pedestrians and make direct walking much more difficult. Many fences are based on our concept of "private property", and are designed to provide clarity as to who owns what. 

If we always drive from A to B, fences along property lines such as those in the examples which follow are not particularly problematic. 

However,  if we want to make it easier for people to walk -- which is part of what a sustainable community is all about -- some fences are hard to justify.

I especially question the necessity of fences built around public developments, institutional sites, and those that are high density residential.

This fence serves only to mark a property line, between similar types of higher density developments. 

A plethora of fences. Are they really so necessary?

A hedge grown up around a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. If the fence ever needs repair, the hedge will have to be removed. Given how thick the hedge has become, the fence probably was not necessary in the first place.

For some reason this access was closed and fenced. Pedestrians wishing to get to the adjoining shopping centre or to 5th St. S.W. are now forced to make their way on a dirt path to the Trans Canada Highway and walk along the unpaved side of this busy road. 

While this fence - which is topped with barbed wire - was probably built to separate the houses from the public park, it also makes it much harder for people in the residential community to enjoy the park amenities.

A gate like this one, which shuts but does not lock, allows for at least some access through the fence

Fences are barriers to walking. It is time we take another look at why we have so many in our built up areas, and evaluate whether we need them all.

A  few years ago, I broke a bone in my pelvis and borrowed a motorized scooter for a number of weeks. I gained fresh insight into the challenges to mobility posed by fences, and other impediments to accessibility.

These steps, outside the Prestige, connect on-street parking to the hotel entrance. They are awkward for even able-bodied pedestrians.

Someone else in Salmon Arm wonders about barriers. These words were painted on concrete curb blocks at Blackburn Park. Anyone walking the perimeter of the park has to step over or around them.

One of the more dangerous sections of road for pedestrians in Salmon Arm is Lakeshore Drive, seen below.

This ramped walkway provides a great way to connect Lakeshore Drive to the area around McGuire Lake. However, as the photo shows, there are no facilities for pedestrians who wish to go east on Lakeshore. I have seen people walking while balancing on the concrete edge on the right hand side of the road. And, I have seen them squeezed as tight as possible against the concrete berms on the left.

This section of Beatty Avenue is a popular stretch of road for walkers, as it connects the waterfront to Peter Jannink Park, and to the Narcisse Street railway crossing. Pedestrians - many of whom are from the area's +55 developments and may use walkers or mobility scooters - have to share the roadway with vehicles and bicycles.

This shows the access to the new development of Mount Ida Mews for seniors. It is a puzzle as to why there are no sidewalks here, in this relatively new development. Is it assumed that no one will walk to or from this complex care facility for seniors?

Where the sidewalk ends -- Beatty Avenue. There are many such transition points around Salmon Arm. Mobility challenged people are forced to navigate the drop.

The sidewalk ends, again. This is a relatively new development, built without any requirement for a sidewalk.

Bus stop outside the Fifth Avenue Seniors Centre. The lack of any sidewalk challenges the pedestrian to navigate to the stop, especially in winter with ice and snow. If we want to increase transit ridership, we need to make taking the bus easier!

I would like to see all new developments in Salmon Arm planned for accessibility for pedestrians, including those with mobility challenges. We do have some examples around town -- we just need more of them!

An attractive pedestrian crosswalk downtown, with bevelled curbs for walkers, scooters, and those with strollers.

Another example of a downtown pedestrian crosswalk.

An attractive public walkway near the Prestige Hotel, as seen earlier this year. This is a good example of a private property (the hotel),with a public amenity (the walkway). 

A popular walk around the pond near the boat basin, as seen a few months ago. Barrier free design makes this feasible for people using scooters and walkers.

As we transition our community to one which is less dependent on cars, we need to be aware of the barriers to alternate forms of transport. There is a lot we can do to make travel safer for walking, more accessible, and improve the ease of using public transport.