Intersections at both Church Street and Victoria Avenue and Church Street and Mowat Avenue will see various changes in the near future, town council deiced at Monday night’s regular meeting here.
After several accidents and numerous words of concern from the public, the traffic flow at Church and Victoria, as well as Church and Portage Avenue, recently was reviewed by the Traffic Safety Committee.
While it ultimately decided no changes should be made at Church and Portage (on the grounds only one accident had occurred there between Jan. 1, 2001 and April 7, 2003), two changes will be made at the intersection of Church and Victoria.
First, one designated parking stall on the west side of Victoria, north of Church, will be eliminated, and the yellow painted curb will be extended from 8.7. metres to 15 metres.
Second, the yellow painted curb on the west side of Victoria south of Church will be extended from eight metres to 15 metres, and appropriate signage (stating “No parking from here to corner”) will be installed.
“The committee believes these measures are required to improve the sight lines for eastbound traffic on Church Street,” said Raymond Roy, Superintendent of Works—Operations, in a report to Doug Brown, manager of Operations and Facilities.
“Sight lines for westbound traffic are adequate as is,” he added.
Upon direction from council, these changes are to be completed in a timely fashion.
In related news, the timing for the traffic lights at the corner of Church and Mowat soon will be adjusted.
Back in May, 2002, Abitibi-Consolidated retained consultants KGS Group to review existing traffic flow from the new Canada Customs facility onto Mowat Avenue.
Based on this investigation, KGS suggested that a seven-second increase in the green signal setting be upwardly adjusted on Mowat (23 to 30 seconds) while the red signal setting should be changed seven seconds on Church (31.7 to 38.7 seconds).
This was supposed to take place some time ago, but was held back by the fact no meeting was set between the affected parties (the town, Abitibi, Canada Customs, Fort Duty Free, and the Ontario tourism centre).
The adjustments will be made as soon as these parties are contacted and consulted by the Operations and Facilities division.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council denied a request by local resident Melvin Haukaas to have a “ghost centre” on the La Verendrye Parkway that would allow both pedestrian and wheeled traffic to share the same pathway.
This was recommended by the Traffic Safety Committee on the grounds that it was unsafe, and contrary to the design of the parkway.
The committee did, however, indicate that Haukaas’ ideas were appreciated, his intentions were sincere, and he should continue to make any future suggestions as he sees fit.
Council also denied a request by local resident Joyce LaFreniere to relocate a stop sign from eastbound traffic at River Road West and McIrvine Road to southbound on McIrvine Road.
This was based on a recommendation from the Traffic Safety Committee on the grounds that “any adjustments in normal traffic movements by revising the location of a stop sign at an intersection usually creates more accidents.
Also Monday night, council:
•spoke with local Progressive Conservative candidate Cathe Hoszowski (the full story was reported in Tuesday’s Daily Bulletin);
•authorized the Operations and Facilities division to obtain a cost estimate for pre-construction engineering work and a tender package for Apron III at the Fort Frances Municipal Airport, with the intention to complete construction there in 2004;
•received a letter from the Winnipeg Foundation confirming the group received the town’s 2003 grant application;
•accepted a report from Doug Brown, manager of Operations and Facilities, who recommended local resident Terry Johnson, who requested the town dump fill on the Eighth Street trails, be contacted and advised that the Community Services division currently is co-ordinating such upgrades (for which $5,000 has been set aside in the 2003 town budget); and
•authorized the town send a letter of understanding to Tom Veert Contracting Ltd. indicating that his acceptance to extend the existing agreement for the next three months is appreciated.
Council also directed the Operations and Facilities division to complete an assessment of the existing landfill operation and make a recommendation to the Operations and Facilities executive committee in September.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
