From: Kim the Traffic Reporter
Hi Marty,
This morning commuters travelling on Assiniboine were met with a surprise. Unfortunately, the surprise was not a pleasant one. Plans for the Active Transportation bike path are now being implemented on Assiniboine which include forced right turns from Carlton onto Assiniboine, this however will require drivers to head right up Edmonton back to Broadway.
All traffic coming from Osborne, Kennedy, Carlton and Hargrave will be required to turn right onto Assiniboine where the only option will be to proceed up Edmonton to Broadway. Traffic is still being allowed west bound from Main Street along Assiniboine.
However, if drivers wish to access Main Street from Assiniboine, they must do so from either Navy Way or Garry Street. It is interesting to note that on Carlton the sign indicates the forced right turn is "temporary". Yet according the plans (not the ones on the website) indicate that turn will be permanent.
At some point on Sunday Aug. 29th, signs and barricades began to appear on Assiniboine and surrounding streets ready for Monday's Rush Hour commute, creating small traffic jams.
By 7:45am this morning traffic on Edmonton was bumper to bumper with more vehicles still waiting to head up this street. Traffic was starting to back up to Kennedy as more vehicles coming off Kennedy and Osborne were forced to make the turn onto Edmonton. As I stood and watched, I noticed several vehicles turn into the back alleys hoping to avoid the congestion. Many vehicles had to sit through at least two sets of red lights before they could proceed any further.
Commuters were lucky that today happened to be one of those light rush hour days so traffic along Broadway was moving smoothly in that area, however that traffic did become heavier as more vehicles came off Edmonton heading towards Main Street.
At around 9:15-9:25 a fire truck and ambulance came screaming up Edmonton, if this had occured an hour earlier, those emergency vehicles would not have been able to pass up Edmonton at all as there was no place for traffic to get out of the way which in the end could cost a life.
Hargrave was also not spared the new construction of these bike paths.
A two way street from Hargrave Place to Assiniboine has now been implemented. Temporary no stopping zones have been put into place along that stretch of Hargrave. However, parking has not been removed directly in front of Hargrave Place which will make it very difficult for larger vehicles to make that turn without either backing up or causing an accident.
Something happened today I never thought would. I was actually worried about crossing a street. I was on Assiniboine on the west side of Edmonton looking to cross to the east. With the constant stream of traffic, some of whom did not appear to want to allow pedestrians to cross, I for the first time ever in that area was nervous about crossing that street.
Kevin Nixon the Active Transportation Coordinator for the City told Bartley Kives of the Winnipeg Free Press today regarding all these new bike paths that "we're feeling pretty good about it". Yet the residents of this area are most certainly NOT feeling very good about it at all. Their lives are being disrupted and turned upside down all for the convenience of cyclists, the worst being for many of the residents and businesses they had no idea what was about to happen.
One business, a law firm with whom I spoke indicated they knew nothing about these plans, that they had not been informed. Other businesses in the area including a laundry mat on Edmonton, grocery stores on Hargrave, another on Garry also had no idea of the plans by the City for their neighbourhood. Concerns were expressed about where their customers/clients were going to park as Government employees who have meter passes sit all day long taking the parking spots. Other concerns expressed was how their customers would get to their businesses.
One person who lives on Assiniboine was in the process of moving. This person expressed serious concern about being to get the truck into the area to park for loading. This gentleman was told by one of the construction crew it would be alright to park the truck, however this gentleman was worried that if the area was needed for the construction crews trucks, he would be forced to find another place to put this large vehicle.
Parking in an alley is not allowed and in fact a vehicle can be towed away for doing so, the offense being obstruction. He raised the question, where am I supposed to park to move? End of the month, beginning of the month is a very busy time for movers, yet the City has not made any allowances for moving vehicles to park to load and unload. For example, 33 Hargrave has little to no capacity to handle large vehicles in the back lane, now however there will no place for anyone who is moving to put that truck.
I ran into Gareth Simons of Bike to the Future as well as the Active Transportation Advisory Committee, I asked him about the consultation, Simons believes there has been adequate consultation with mailings and open houses. Simons also indicated he doesn't believe the people of this neighbourhood will inconvenienced at all once construction is completed. I told Simons that people who had lived in the area for 10 years had no idea as to what was going on, Simons indicated that letters had been mailed out.
It will be interesting to see how the area fares with afternoon rush hour, how much will traffic be backed up? Who was the person that drafted these plans? Why weren't the residents notified of the changes which according to the City was done in May, yet no information was sent out until the end of July when many are on vacation or for those who don't cycle, it was ignored as the letter taped to apartment building doors was either not seen or blown away. Is that really consulation?
The absolute mess on Assinibione is going to create problems all through the area. On days when traffic is heavy this neighbourhood will be inundated with extra vehicles, people won't be able to find a place to park, won't be able to easily get to the places they need to go without having to travel in a serious of one way loops that make no sense whatsoever.
Makes no sense, that appears to be the mantra of the planners who don't sit down to really think about what they are doing to an area, not caring how residents and businesses will be affected. Perhaps those planners should set up shop in this area, after all, it is their mess.
