Truck traffic in Athabasca was the hot topic at an open house that filled the Athabasca Regional Multiplex last Thursday.
Over 150 area residents attended the event held by CastleGlenn Consultants Inc., which has been hired by Alberta Transportation to conduct a series of consultations into the need for a truck bypass around the community.
CastleGlenn was represented by Arthur Gordon at the meeting, who presented an in-depth slideshow on the possibilities they have examined so far.
The process continues, and hearing from the community itself is vital, according to Gordon.
“We want to be able to understand what the problem we are trying to address is,” Gordon said.
Safety is the number-one concern, according to the consultant. Large transport trucks turning at the intersection of Highway 55 and Highway 2 have been known to create dangerous situations in the past, and Gordon agrees there is an issue there.
“It is not safe crossing from one side of the street to the other,” he said. “I just don’t feel as a pedestrian that it is safe walking in that area.”
One member of the community who agreed with that statement was Fred Martin, who began petitioning for Alberta Transportation to address the safety issues and consider a truck safety route around the town after he was nearly struck by a turning truck in December of 2010.
Having large trucks getting hung up in the intersection is also a concern Alberta Transportation is investigating.
“We need to be able to have a plan for the long run, when it is really needed to get the trucks out of Athabasca and Colinton to where a minimum number of people are disturbed,” Gordon explained.
Alberta Transportation is also looking for a ring road that will include all the traffic headed to and from Wabasca, though that is a second priority to diverting the heavy traffic through the town.
Gordon explained that even with a truck route, these large trucks would still be allowed to flow through Athabasca’s downtown core.
“Unlike a municipality that can go ahead and say, ‘This is not a truck route, you are not allowed here unless you are making a delivery,’ the province cannot do that with our highways,” Gordon explained. “As long as Highway 2 is a highway, and Highway 55 is a highway, a truck can use it.”
Whatever route the consultants choose, it has to be convenient or else truckers won’t be inclined to use it.
“If I develop a truck route that takes an hour and 15 minutes, versus spending the time to go through town, they are going to go through town anyway.”
Gordon explained that there is currently no timeline for this project as it is only in the study stage. Until they have a confirmed route, Gordon cannot approach the province for funding.
“Once we define what the project is, then we can go to the province and they can say it costs this much, and they rank this against all other projects that have priority in the province,” he explained. “It has to rise in the priority list among all the other priorities.”
Going forward, Gordon said it is up to the community to move this project to the top of the priority list.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” he said. “You have to rely on your communities, your councillors and everyone else to say, this is needed for our community, this is the highest priority.”
CastleGlenn intends to hold another consultation before the end of the year, which will focus more on potential bypass routes.
Local politicians found the bypass community consultation to be very informative.
Many Athabasca County and Town of Athabasca councillors were in attendance at CastleGlenn Consultants Inc. public consultation meeting last Thursday, along with more than 150 curious citizens.
The consulting company sent Arthur Gordon to conduct the presentation.
“The turnout basically says it all,” he said. “There is a great interest in making sure that transportation in this community is dealt with.”
Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill was also impressed.
“I applaud everyone that was there,” Morrill said. “It looks great on the community to come out to something like that to try and become informed.”
Athabasca County councillor Allen Balay said the county recognizes this project is not going to be completed over night.
“I think the county realizes how long these things take, and it’s a good thing that we’ve actually got a community consultation,” he said. “It’s going to be slow because anytime someone brings up a new idea, they have to analyze that and see where that takes them.”
Town councillor Paula Evans said she attended the event for her personal interest.
“It was well done,” she exclaimed. “But I was disappointed there was no timeline (for completion). I’m wondering when it will become a priority, as we all know that traffic is continuing to increase.”
Community activist for the truck safety route Fred Martin said he’s done all he can after petitioning to have Alberta Transportation look at the traffic issue within Athabasca.
“I’ve done all I can do, and now it is up to the professionals to make things happen,” Martin said. “I don’t want to get involved with routes because it’s in their hands, and they can do what they want. Whatever route they come up with is great.”
Gordon was impressed with the amount of feedback he received.
“A lot of people came out, and they had a lot of valuable information,” he said. “I think people are excited about the study. They see that a problem exists with regard to heavy vehicle traffic traveling through Athabasca and we are all anxious to develop a solution that would ultimately be able to take those people in large rigs, and give them an alternate route.
“People are interested. They want to be able to see something happen here,” he continued. “We encourage people to get involved. We’ll make sure comment sheets are available at the town and county offices. If they have any ideas that we haven’t considered, we want to hear them.”
Balay said Athabasca is an involved community.
“When things affect people, they show up,” he said. “It’s good to see people taking an interest.”
Balay thought Gordon answered questions to the best of his ability.
“I don’t think he was trying to shy away from anything,” he said. “I think they are there to really take the opinion of the people of the area.”
