A $16 million bypass could solve most of Cardiff’s traffic woes, say residents, but county staff say it wouldn’t be built for decades.
About 45 county residents showed up to an open house on Cardiff Road last Thursday at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre. Sturgeon County engineers and consultants from ISL Engineering and Land Services were there to present ideas on how to address traffic concerns in Cardiff, a community just east of Morinville.
About 20,000 cars a day head north past the intersection of Hwy. 2 and Cardiff Road, said John Dugas, the county’s manager of engineering services, many of which turn onto Cardiff to go to Morinville. About a thousand cars a day head through Cardiff proper – projected to grow to about 3,000 a day in 20 years. “That is quite a bit of cars.”
There are no sidewalks in Cardiff, said resident Mike Bishop, which means residents have to walk on a road frequented by dump trucks headed to the Roseridge landfill.
Cars regularly blast down Cardiff Road, which runs through the heart of the community, at 60 to 80 kilometres an hour, Bishop said. “Some people are doing up to 100.” The speed limit is 50, he said, but is poorly enforced.
Other residents raised concerns about the lack of sidewalks, dust from nearby gravel roads, and the need for an interchange at Cardiff Road and Hwy. 2. The province has proposed an interchange at that location, but recently took it off their three-year capital plan.
The county and ISL have come up with three possible solutions, Dugas said. The first was to bring traffic calming measures to Cardiff Road such as speed humps (which are like speed bumps, but longer and wider), a sidewalk and a speed-display sign.
These measures would cost $50,000 to $400,000, Dugas said, and could be completed within a year. Work on the speed display sign had already begun, he added, and it should be finished later this week.
Option two was to urbanize Cardiff Road with trees, a trail, streetlights and a raised crosswalk, Dugas continued. This would make the road more city-like, cuing drivers to slow to city speeds. This option would also include a parking lane on the north side of Cardiff Road to give residents more space to back out of their driveways.
Option two would take about 10 years to complete, Dugas said, and cost $3 to $7 million.
Option three would build a bypass north around Cardiff, Dugas said – a project pegged at $8 to $16 million.
“Sixteen million is a lot of money,” Dugas said, being more than the county’s entire transportation budget, and it doesn’t include the cost of land acquisition and the construction of a new railway crossing the bypass needed. The cost meant that this option was about 20 years away.
Residents at the meeting were all for the bypass option.
The bypass would take most of the traffic off Cardiff Road inside Cardiff, said Roger Fritz, president of the Cardiff Golf and Country Club, and could link into the future Hwy. 2/Cardiff interchange should it ever be built. “You’re completely bypassing Cardiff altogether,” he said, and getting easier access to Morinville.
The bypass was expensive, said resident Avery Bishop, but made sense given projected growth in the region. “If they do it now, it’s going to be cheaper than it would be in 10 to 20 years.”
As for the Cardiff Road/Hwy. 2 intersection, Coun. Tom Flynn said the county was lobbying the province to put some improvements in place. “We have to make it safer somehow in the interim.” Suggestions so far include traffic lights and moving the northbound turning lane off of Hwy. 2 further east to improve sight lines.
County staffers will present their recommendation to council April 23, Dugas said.
