I am a proud cab driver in this city. I love this city. I notice every change of every traffic light and every new — everything. But, I also know how people in St. Albert adapt to the changes.
St. Albert residents (and Morinville residents, too) all know where the photo radar SUV operators like to park, and as a result drivers know where to speed and where to slow down. More importantly, St. Albert drivers adapt, probably more than any other group I've ever known.
When 184 Street opened it was busier than any route known. When Ray Gibbon Drive opened it took all of eight hours for St. Albert folks to take advantage! When they changed the lights at Boudreau Road and Hebert Road, drivers would race through Fraser Drive (a residential area) to get where they were going. When they changed the lights at Hebert Road and Arlington Drive (if they were heading that way) they would turn right on Arlington Drive (a residential area) instead of using a major route designed for speed and throughput of traffic.
At Bellerose Drive and Boudreau Road, drivers steam with frustration at having to stop and wait needlessly! Why would our city engineers, configure the traffic lights to create road rage where none had existed before? St. Albert drivers all know the pace of our peaceful city. I personally think our city engineers are bent on psychologically remodeling our peaceful folks into road-ragers and psychotics!
I've had friends that have worked for our municipal civil engineering division, and know about the reasoning, but I would like to give thanks and acknowledge the wisdom of changing the speed limit to 60 km/h at McKenney Avenue where it connects to Ray Gibbon Drive. But, I would still like to question the intelligence of the designers as to why they would put a curb on this route. Also, When will there be bylaws and regulations for parking lots (i.e., Walmart — come on, five stop signs at one turn? No one knows what to do.) Developers should be treated with the wrath they deserve! Governments that don't regulate parking lots and internal traffic should likewise be subject to the wrath of voters.
Robert Genis, Edmonton
