Craig Gilbert | [email protected]
Just paint it.
Paint the crosswalk, or crosswalks.
It鈥檚 been a few weeks now Paul Butler and other Jasper town councillors have been itching for some safety improvements to the Bonhomme-Miette-Pine intersection.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 understand why we can鈥檛 paint a crosswalk,鈥� he said at a meeting on Tuesday. Coun. Rico Damota agreed, wondering aloud whether public works even needs direction from council to do it.
We鈥檙e talking about two sets of signs and road lines for pedestrians across Bonhomme Street and one each across Pine and Miette Avenues.
Leo Arsenault and Robin Marks live where the wild things are in the early 900s on Bonhomme.
Marks said he鈥檚 willing to lose a parking stall if what the town does with the corner if it improves safety. But the draft design on the table, a four-way intersection, would put a red octagon outside his bedroom window. He expressed concern over stopping and starting, and engine revving. There was talk of visitors speeding toward Cabin Creek, and parents speeding toward school to beat the morning bell, and police speeding from the nearby detachment towards collisions on the highway at all hours.
Marks suggested a fire hydrant about 50 feet down the road from his place would be the logical place to paint a crosswalk across Bonhomme.
Culture and recreation director Yvonne McNabb lives near the intersection, too. She said she鈥檚 had vehicles land 鈥渋nches鈥� from her deck, and run into her neighbour鈥檚 vehicle. She said she witnessed a near-miss two days prior.
鈥淚 think 30 km/h would be the ultimate answer,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not using the stop signs as it is.鈥�
Speeding on Bonhomme in and around the school safety zone that extends to north to Pyramid Lake Road and beyond is the real villain in this plot. Two weeks ago council talked some traffic theory around stop signs and whether they make roads safer or encourage aggressive braking and acceleration.
Coun. Helen-Kelleher Empey is in the latter camp.
鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy,鈥� she said. 鈥淛ust put it down to 30 (on Bonhomme). There are so many young children with the new co-ops there.鈥�
Damota noted previous councils had been down this road before years ago, talking about making the speed limit 30 km/h through Cabin Creek all the way back around to Patricia Street.
Mayor Richard Ireland said he drove through the intersection 鈥渙n purpose鈥� earlier in the day and figures a hedge that used to obscure sightlines has allowed speeds to creep up in its absence.
鈥淚鈥檇 like residents to be able to look at numerous options, not just one, if we defer.鈥�
Operations director Bruce Thompson said his department would look into whether any of the crosswalks would need council approval and would go about painting ones that didn鈥檛. This after his note that the town鈥檚 Transportation Master Plan final draft is a 鈥渃ouple of weeks out鈥� failed to satisfy councillors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very unusual intersection.鈥�
