Ask-A-Candidate Question 11

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QUESTION ADDRESSED TO MORINVILLE COUNCIL AND MAYORAL CANDIDATES

The 100 Street / Cardiff Road / Highway 2 intersection is now a genuine safety hazard. South Glens is completed, Cardiff is growing, and the southbound turn onto Highway 2 is most often a half-blind turn when traffic is in the slowdown lane. I have read the 2004 Transportation Master Plan on the town website in detail, and this intersection was seen as a major safety priority, and absolutely nothing has been done in the six years since. To make matters even worse, there are further proposed developments across the road from South Glens in Sturgeon County (Deer Haven) which will cause further congestion and collisions. Alliant Engineering proposed a) signalization of the intersection, b) construction of a channeled right turn lane, or c) reducing the posted speed on Highway 2. They also stated that the town immediately needs to move the intersection East 285 meters and start preparing for an interchange on the site, and neither of these actions has even been started yet either.

Which of the alternatives would the candidates be pursuing, or is there another better alternative that they will choose?

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5 Comments

  1. PLEASE NOTE – Only Candidates may post comments to this posting. Morinvillenews.com welcomes reader comments on our articles, but we wish to keep these particular segments open for candidates alone so that readers do not have to separate who is and is not vying for their vote.

  2. Good Morning To set the context for this reply … The Highway 2 and Cardiff corner intersection is a Provincial Responsibility. The Town Council and administration have met too many times to count with the Provincial authiorties ever since I have been the Mayor. Previous Mayors/adminstration have also met with Alberta Transportation. In addition to regularly talking to our MLA on this issue, this past year under the direction of the Council, a letter under my signature was sent to Minister Oullette, Minister of Transportion. He acknowledged receipt of the letter and sent a weak response that the Government is aware of our concerns.

    Alberta Transportation is currently doing a functional alignment study that contemplates a realignment of Highway 2 from Anthony Henday to Cardiff corner. We have been given numerous assurances that Cardiff corner is the first priority to be worked on once the plan is finalized. That is all well and good but that does not solve the serious public saftey issue this intersection poses.

    A few years ago Alberta Transportation put in an “urban style” intersection at that corner to increase the number of cars that can line up to turn onto Highway 2 south. It is called stacking distance in their world. While that has indeed increased the number of cars that can line up and help avoid some congestion at 100st and Cardiff corner, the primary result of that work is that their stop sign no longer gets wiped out when vehicles slide through that intersection in the winter !!

    You will notice on the old highway, 100 Street, we stopped the widening and installing street lights about 1/3 of a mile from Cardiff corner. That is because there is a plan to move that road to the East to accomodate a future interchange. Moving 100 street East will increase the stacking distance for vehicles on Cardiff road to the highway. That solves the traffic flow issue with that intersection but does nothing to solve the dangerous situtation going through the intersection. This realignment is the responsibility of the Provincial Government as it is required for the overpass. It is not the responsibility of the Town to aquire the land and build that road. We simply can not afford a project of that magnitude from our property taxes.

    It is quite obvious to a number of people that have talked to me about this that the major problem at this intersection is the lack of visibility at the stop sign to see past the traffic turning right onto Cardiff road from Highway 2. Many have suggested a realignment of the turning traffic futher East would solve the problem. While I am no traffic engineer, I agree. Realigning 100 street and the traffic that is turning off Highway 2 to an interesction further East that is integral to a future interchange appears, on the surface, to solve the stacking problem, the visibility issue and the accident rate at that intersection.

    To meet budget concerns the Provincial authorities have countered with installing a set of traffic lights. While I do not beleive this is a great solution it would certainly be better than leaving this uncontrolled death trap as it is.

    As your Mayor I will continue to work on this and will step up the pressure on our MLA and Provincial Government in this area.

  3. The Highway 2 intersection at Cardiff Road has been a concern of mine for many years and I have been very diligent in make sure that the item is not forgotten. The easiest and quickest fix until an interchange would be the construction of a right turn lane as mentioned in your comments. This would certainly increase the sight lines and I believe would be a lot safer than a signalized intersection. An interchange at Cardiff Road and Highway 2 is beyond the 10 year program with Alberta Transportation and their short term fix sometime in the future is a signalized intersection.

    With increased population a possibility in and around Cardiff comes increased traffic and increased safety concerns. Council will at every opportunity comment on any proposed developments around Cardiff with increase traffic and the intersection as reason for objection. Realigning 100 street and Cardiff Road intersection is certainly in the plans although not a priority until Alberta Transportation makes a commitment to the future development of this important intersection.

  4. The intersection at Highway 2 and Cardiff Road is a threat to the safety of the residents of Morinville, Cardiff and surrounding communities. Whether or not the Town of Morinville has the ability to implement changes to the road – they have the responsibility to the residents to do everything that they can to get this issue resolved. The term “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” applies when it comes to dealing with the Government of Alberta and the Town Council and Administration should be the number one advocate for our citizens on important matters like this. Several people that I know, myself included, have stopped using that intersection because of safety concerns. This impacts all of the businesses that are located on 100 Street, south of the train tracks, as many people will not drive by there on a regular basis in order to avoid using that intersection. 452 people (as of today) are members of a Facebook Group called “Cardiff Corner is a Death Trap”. Town Council owes it to their residents to ensure that this issue is kept at the forefront in every way that it possibly can so that there can be some sort of resolution to this problem.

  5. Thank you for your comments and concerns:

    Not to repeat what was already said, that something has to be done. I personally talked to the Speaker of the House our MLA, his son who lives in Morinville which he also talked to his Dad about this situation, plus we have the Deputy Minister that live in Cardiff that is quite aware of this situation. But nothing been done.

    Alberta Transportation been studying this problem/situation for years, if all come down to money, other projects are ahead of this one, because they are aware this is a safety problem but they are thinking (I believe) since no one die – it can way another 2 to 5 years.

    I will keep pushing our Provincial government to the fullest as your Mayor.

    Thank, Joseph Trapani

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