Officials with the Municipality of Chatham-Kent says the plan is to move forward with the removal of the four-way stop in Wallaceburg, despite a plea made by Wallaceburg Coun. Jeff Wesley.
Adam Sullo, the director of engineering and transportation, said council approved the direction of this project back in August of 2016, and approved the tender award back in November of 2016.
With these decisions already made, Sullo told the Sydenham Current on Wednesday afternoon that the Municipality plans to remove the all-way stop at Murray Street and Reaume Avenue on Friday, May 12.
“I understand that there were concerns form the public about the construction on McNaughton Avenue,” he said.
“Unless I receive a new direction from council, we’ll be moving forward.”
He said a contract is in place for the work to take occur on Friday, and delaying it would result in added cost to the Municipality.
Sullo said a traffic analysis was conducted last spring, and it showed that an all-way stop wasn’t warranted at the intersection.
“The results of the analysis indicate that (an) all-way stop is not warranted based on the traffic volume conditions,” the staff report says.
Subsequently, council approved the following recommendation, among others, at their August 22 council meeting:
The All-way Stop located at the intersection of Murray Street and Reaume Avenue in Wallaceburg be removed and the School Crossing located at the same intersection be converted to a Pedestrian Crossover (Type B) per the guidelines of the Ontario Traffic Manual.
The Type B Pedestrian Crossover consists of poles on each side of the crossing with two signs, audible pedestrian pushbuttons on each pole, and rectangular rapid flashing LED beacons mounted on each pole facing both directions, a staff report says.
One of the signs is mounted on a mast arm that extends over the roadway. Additional Advance warning signs, no parking signs, and pavement markings are required, the report says.
Council approved a tender for the overall project, in the amount of $260,166.68, to Ron Field and Son Electric Ltd. of Chatham at their November 21 meeting. That figure includes work on 11 other similar projects across the Municipality as part of the tender award.
Sullo said the situation is frustrating.
“It’s a confusing situation for me,” he said.
“This was presented almost a year ago. We were very specific, very concise, very clear. There was a separate recommendation put aside for the removal of the all-way stop.”
Sullo added: “Any changes we make to traffic is very upsetting to people. All-way stops are not a traffic calming measure, it actually creates more traffic congestion.”
Wesley said fellow Wallaceburg Coun. Carmen McGregor and himself have heard many concerns from the public regarding the planned work and he has put in a request to staff to delay the removal, until it can be discussed at Monday’s council meeting. Wesley said he is asking for the two stop signs on Murray Street to remain until the construction is completed on McNaughton Avenue.
Wesley said he did see the removal of the four way stop in a report, but never keyed in on the significance and impact of it.
Read all of Wesley’s comments from earlier, here.
The Municipality provided answers to many of the frequently asked questions about this issue back in July, including the cancellation of the adult crossing guard program: C-K answers FAQ about crossing guard program
We’ll provide more information when it becomes available.
– Photo credit: Aaron Hall
This may have been approved and tendered last year but was it with the knowledge that traffic would be higher because of construction on McNaughton? I would think not. Hopefully there is some consideration to delay the project because of the circumstances. I travel Murray Street daily back and forth to work and I would not want to have a child trying to cross the road with or without the new crosswalk. Traffic is confusing now with maneuvering around pylons and merging lanes with a four way stop. Higher traffic and construction on both McNaughton and Murray Street makes this decision an accident waiting to happen. Safety should be put first.
What Adam states above is correct, however, what Council was never informed about, nor discussed, nor considered is what impact this change in the four way stop would have if it was put in place during construction on both McNaughton and Murray Street. There was no Council approval of that. Traffic is now higher on Reaume and quite frankly the current traffic patterns and restrictions are confusing at best…let’s not add to the confusion. My very simple request to staff and if need be to Council is to delay the removal of the four way stop until after construction is complete. In my view the new electronic crossing can still be put into service and with the four way stop also in place until construction is complete everyone can get used to the new crosswalk under much safer conditions…since all cars will have to stop 100% of the time. After construction which will also be after the school year ends then let’s revisit the issue.There may have been a traffic analysis done but it was not done during construction! Deb Corby is absolutely right.