Construction will soon begin at Miette Avenue and Turret Street to transform the intersection into a four-way stop.
Currently the intersection is a two-way stop for vehicles travelling on Turret Street and has long been considered a safety issue for vehicles and pedestrians because of the intersection’s odd angles and the entrance to the adjacent parking lot for the McCready Centre.
“The recommendation has been put forward by the traffic advisory committee,” Bruce Thompson, director of operations, said during a council meeting May 16.
“The intersection has very long walking distances for pedestrians crossing Miette and this includes many elementary school children.”
The recommended changes to the intersection are similar to the changes that were made to alter the intersection at Miette Avenue and Geikie Street, which became a four-way stop last summer.
The major difference between the two intersections is that the intersection at Miette and Turret also includes a parking lot, essentially turning it into a five-way juncture.
According to the plans, the new intersection will include concrete islands to shorten the walking distance across the road, extend the centre median into the intersection to calm traffic and two right hand turning lanes onto Turret Avenue in both directions. Those lanes will either include a yield sign or a stop sign.
To accommodate and improve access to the parking lot for the McCready Centre vehicles will only be allowed to exit right out of the parking lot onto Miette Avenue.
Vehicles will still be able to turn left and right into the parking lot.
Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey said she was concerned that this could lead to people doing U-turns on Miette Avenue.
Thompson noted her concern and said the town would monitor the situation.
The changes are expected to cost $300,000, which council set aside in the 2017 capital budget. Jasper Concrete has been award the contract and is expected to begin construction soon with paving done before the end of June.
During construction, the intersection will remain a two-way stop until it’s completed. Council will vote on changing the intersection into a four-way stop on May 30.
On a separate, but related note, Thompson said work is also underway to begin resurfacing some of the town’s roads.
“What we’ve done up to this point is that we’ve been able to get away with crack sealing, pothole filling and spray patching, but now we’ve got some areas in town that have broken out to the point that they’re not effective anymore and we’re going to have to do some treatment to the whole surface area,” Thompson said following the council meeting.
Instead of patching or filling in potholes, the municipality will begin fixing larger parts of the road using a technique called micro surfacing.
Micro surfacing involves repairing the damage to the subgrade of the road and then using a special mixture of asphalt to seal it. It is a cost effective way to slow down the natural degradation of the road and extend its service life.
Depending on when the contractor is available the work will begin either before the end of June or in the fall following the tourist season.
Paul Clarke [email protected]
