Residents pan traffic report

The recently released draft report on the traffic impact of a high school on traffic in Erin Ridge didn’t have a wide enough scope, say some members of the Erin Ridge Residents’ Action Committee.

“The focus was too narrow. Our traffic problems in Erin Ridge are much broader than that,” said committee member Murray Lambert.

The report largely focused on traffic and parking close to the school site, destined for Eldorado Park, and the hospital, but didn’t look much beyond the potential impact of the school and the issues stemming from hospital traffic and parking, Lambert and Bill and Kathy Van Hoof said in an interview Wednesday.

“There’s nothing really to reduce traffic,” Bill said of the suggested mitigation measures put forward by Bunt and Associates, the consultants who completed the report.

They were impressed with the amount of data included in the report, and some suggested measures like a parking bylaw.

“They delivered a lot more than I thought they would into the parking issues,” Kathy said, noting the extensive data that even tracked how long cars would park along Erin Ridge Drive. Bill pointed out while the hospital visitor and staff parking was taken into consideration, impacts from the Citadel Care Centre did not appear to be in the report.

But still, the group has some concerns. Lambert feels that the report “presupposed” its conclusion that the francophone high school, set to open in 2016, would not have a significant negative impact on the existing roads and intersections.

“It can’t do anything but that (negatively impact traffic),” Lambert said. “It has to because it’s adding traffic.”

Bill thinks the one per cent traffic growth rate applied to predicting traffic volumes in 2016 is “off the mark” given the rate of population growth in the Erin Ridge and Erin Ridge North communities.

“I think the reality is traffic is going to grow more than one per cent a year,” Bill said.

Kathy noted that despite the afternoon and evening peak hour traffic flow at the intersection of Erin Ridge Road and Erin Ridge Drive getting a rating of “F” for levels of service, nothing was suggested to mitigate the problems at that intersection, which the report said has problems going eastbound under existing peak hour traffic volumes.

“School or no school, there needs to be traffic lights at that intersection,” Lambert said.

Ultimately the timing of the report is off, Kathy said.

“This traffic study should have been done before the school (site was decided),” she said.

They plan on attending the public consultation to be held Dec. 9 and appreciate the opportunity to provide written comments. The city’s accepting written submissions by email until Dec. 15.

Mayor Nolan Crouse and some councillors hadn’t had a chance to read the report yet when asked for comment. Crouse said he’s really happy with the opportunity being given to the public to understand and comment on the report.

“Process-wise I’m pleased the document is out,” Crouse said.

The draft report is currently available online at www.stalbert.ca/new_schools. It was released on Monday.

A final draft will be compiled after public consultation, and a second round of public review will come after the final report is released in 2014.

The report was commissioned by the City of St. Albert in conjunction with Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Health Services.