From: Kim the Traffic Reporter
Hi Marty,
I did a bit of a walk around part of the downtown area today (Labour Day holiday) to see if the paystations were active or not.
I checked Kennedy, Edmonton, Carlton, Hargrave, Donald, Smith, St. Mary, York, Vaughan, Broadway, Portage, Garry, Fort, Assiniboine, Notre Dame, Navy Way and Adelaide. I began the checks on Notre Dame and worked my way South from that point eventually ending up in the Assiniboine area.
The checks of the meters were random and scattered to get a sampling of what was going on in the area.
In total I checked 85 meters,:
49 no charge
28% - (24) illegally accepted payment (of which I have 11 receipts)
14% - (12) out of order
42% of pay stations checked FAIL
I took note that on Edmonton between Assiniboine and Broadway, all of the meters were "no charge" parking. Some of the streets such as Carlton had one paystation that accepted payment whereas the next one did not. I found the same situation on Notre Dame, Kennedy (east side between Broadway & Assiniboine), Fort, Assiniboine, Garry and Smith.
I also noted some of signage around Assiniboine, for example, one backlane next to 303 Assiniboine has a forced right turn sign that says "temporary". Directly in front of that sign is a one-way arrow sign going west towards Edmonton St., those same forced right temporary signs are also located with the one-way arrow are also located at other north/south thru lanes. We know the changes are in fact permanent.
I watched one person turn onto Hargrave, this person ended up in the wrong travel lane, had there been another vehicle there would have been a problem. Also I noticed that the temporary no-stopping signs on Hargrave have now been extended to include the area directly in front of Hargrave Place thereby allowing larger vehicles to safely make the southbound turn onto Hargrave.
On Edmonton St. people are still parking in the temporary no-stopping zone. I think the City will have no choice but to turn it into a permanent no stop as vehicles turning from both east and west bound Assiniboine fight for space.
Which brings up another safety concern, how is that intersection going to be signed? The stop signs which had been in place last week are gone, I watched numerous close calls as people tried to get onto Edmonton and nobody figured out who was supposed to go first. I don't even want to think about what is going to happen on Tuesday with no stop signs and rush hour traffic in full effect. It could be a blood bath (so to speak). I foresee many fender benders at that corner (my crystal ball does work sporadically) especially come winter when its icy out.
