Push grows for highway crossing

FORT FRANCES—A clear sign that at least some local residents are concerned about the lack of a safe pedestrian crossing across King’s Highway, town council was presented with a petition bearing nearly 100 signatures Monday evening.
Spearheaded by Merv Ahrens, the petition calls for the town to immediately initiate a traffic study on the stretch of King’s Highway between Elm Avenue and Lillie Avenue, and immediately oversee the selection and installation of an appropriate traffic control system at the intersection of King’s Highway and Webster Avenue once the study is completed.
As it stands now, noted Ahrens, there is “zero crossing protection” for children needing to cross King’s Highway to play at the Legion Park, as well as both children and adults needing to cross the highway further west to access the St. Francis Sportsfields.
As well, there are many concerns about the characteristics of King’s Highway from Elm to Lillie that are “major” and “should be addressed,” said Ahrens.
These include:
•two sharp curves which obstruct/reduce traffic visibility for pedestrians and drivers;
•a lack of intersection-protected sidewalks from Wal-Mart to downtown, necessitating pedestrians having to cross the four-lane highway somewhere between Webster and Lillie;
•J.W. Walker, St. Francis, and Fort High students do not have a continuous, intersection-protected sidewalk passage on either side of King’s Highway (there is the “Mohawk gap” where there’s no sidewalk at all between Webster Avenue to the First Street West exit lane);
•the majority of sidewalks are immediately adjacent to the outer two lanes of fast-moving vehicle traffic on King’s Highway (it would “take no effort to reach out with [one’s] hand and touch a 30-ton truck loaded with spruce exceeding the speed limit,” noted Ahrens);
•the four traffic lanes on King’s Highway are “dangerously troughed/ridged” and pose a tripping hazard;
•about 20 households/drivers must regularly enter and exit King’s Highway within the interval between Elm and Lillie (there is no back alley), and must contend with large volumes of fast-moving vehicle traffic, blind corners, etc.; and
•the highway often is congested with “clientele traffic” entering or exiting the seven businesses and one church within the interval between Elm and Lillie.
“The petition . . . was signed by people in the neighbourhood, people in the community, people who regularly traverse that section of highway, and they share my concern related to the safety of children, and the safety of drivers, using that section of highway,” explained Ahrens.
“It is a very, very dangerous section of road.”
He noted the petition was sparked when neighbourhood residents realized the crosswalk lights located near the site of the former Alexander MacKenzie School would never be reactivated (and, in fact, were dismantled and removed July 15-16).
There also was the fact the town is looking at doing a traffic/pedestrian engineering study in 2009 to evaluate whether a traffic control signal for a four-way controlled intersection is warranted at King’s Highway and Webster Avenue.
While he didn’t disagree with the latter, Ahrens wondered if the traffic study couldn’t happen sooner before any serious accidents—even fatalities—occur.
But Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said the town intends to request the study as part of its five-year capital program submission to the MTO.
This submission will not go to the province until this October, with confirmation of a study, if the MTO agrees to it, not likely to come back until March, 2009.
The study then would be conducted later in the spring, at which time it would be determined as to whether the lights at Webster are warranted.
“There is criteria as to whether or not traffic lights are put in,” Brown stressed.
No one on council disagreed with Ahrens’ safety concerns. In fact, Coun. Andrew Hallikas spent some time with him to experience how difficult it is to cross the highway on foot.
“It was very difficult,” said Coun. Hallikas. “With the road curves, it is very difficult to see and cars are really coming across that highway with some speed.
“It took me a considerable amount of time to get across that road,” he noted, adding he’d like to see a traffic study done sooner than later.
But some councillors noted several factors have to be considered before any decisions are made.
Coun. Sharon Tibbs said the old crosswalk lights at Alexander MacKenzie were “ineffective,” and that while something must be done, the town has to come up with a better solution than that.
She also reminded council that King’s Highway is a provincial “Connecting Link” and any decision also should be approved by the MTO.
Brown noted that, theoretically, the town could go ahead and fund a traffic study any time, but if it were done with MTO approval, 90 percent of it would be covered by the province.
Clerk Glen Treftlin also pointed out the MTO is required to pass the bylaw to create a crossing and put up traffic lights.
If the town went ahead and put up a crossing with lights without MTO approval, he questioned how the crossing could be legally enforced—and whether the town would be left open to legal action if an accident were to happen.
“I totally agree with the clerk. I think the crossing at McDonald’s was a big mistake,”’ said Coun. Paul Ryan. “There should have been something else done there.
“It’s the most dangerous crossing we’ve got in this town, in my opinion.
“Kids come along there, they don’t press the button. There’s large trucks. People travelling in the outer lane can’t see kids crossing. Some day it’s going to be the worst disaster,” Coun. Ryan added.
“I think we should go along with MTO, their specifications, their study. . . .” he continued. “Just when it will take place, I don’t know. We could ask the MTO to do it right now. They might comply.”
Council agreed to receive Ahrens’ presentation and the petition, and referred the matter to the Operations and Facilities executive committee to contact the MTO and see if it would be possible to have the study done in advance of the five-year capital program submission.
< *c>Four-way stop
Another traffic concern was expressed to town council Monday night via a letter written by North Air Services owner Paul Bock.
After seeing how well the four-way stop at the intersection of First Street East and Mowat Avenue worked earlier this summer, Bock is requesting the town consider bringing the signage back permanently.
“I found that in the weeks when the temporary four-way was in place, that it was much safer and smoother running intersection,” Bock wrote.
“Prior to the four-way stop being there, it was almost impossible to get across there safely on the busier days and when tourist traffic was more abundant [not to mention the cars parked on both sides of the street and large volume of pedestrian traffic],” he added.
Council referred Bock’s request to the Operations and Facilities executive committee for its recommendation, with input from the traffic safety committee.
(Fort Frances Times)