Les Sommers knows a thing or two about Meadowview Drive – he's lived by it since 1939.
So when he calls it "the worst road in the county," he probably knows what he's talking about.
The county road, which runs along the north side of Big Lake, is plagued by potholes, heavy traffic and speeders, Sommers says, and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.
"We've got about 2,500 vehicles going west out of St. Albert per day and about 1,600 coming back," and that's projected to roughly double in a decade, he says, speaking at an open house on the road last week in Villeneuve. "That road can't handle it."
Sommers was one of about 50 county residents who came to the Villeneuve community hall for the open house. Sturgeon County is doing a study with the City of St. Albert to figure out how to fix the road's traffic woes.
Too much traffic
Area councillor Ken McGillis says Meadowview has had traffic problems for about 10 years now, ones that have gotten worse in the last three years with the opening of Ray Gibbon Drive. "The county is almost constantly repairing holes that develop in the road."
The road now sees about 2,480 cars a day travelling west of Ray Gibbon Drive, according to Shelly Moulds, lead engineer on the project with ISL Engineering and Land Services. She said it is set to have about 5,600 a day by 2022. Many of these cars appear to be using the road as a shortcut, causing wear and tear on the road and excess noise in the neighbourhood.
The noise is like St. Albert Trail during rush hour, says resident Keith McLelland. "There are thousands of cars that drive down there a day, and they're not residents."
The resulting potholes make a drive down Meadowview like a ride on a bucking horse, says resident Colleen Oosterhof. "I can't even take my [drink] shaker to drink water."
Many of the road's intersections also have poor visibility or drainage, creating safety hazards, Moulds says. There have been about 29 collisions on the road in the last five years, or about 80 per 100 million kilometres of travel, about 30 less than a typical two-lane highway.
How to fix it
ISL is now looking at how to fix these problems, Moulds says.
In addition to better speed enforcement, the company is looking at widening the road to 11 metres from seven. The road has essentially no shoulders and widening it would give drivers more room to move. Residents have also called for reflector poles and a centre line to be added to the road.
ISL has also sketched out about seven possible bypasses the county could build in 20-some years to take traffic off Meadowview, Moulds says. This would affect St. Albert, as it would have to make sure its end of Meadowview lines up with the one in the county.
Sommers had a two-step solution for the road. First, put in stop signs, and lots of them. Speeders have a clear run along the road right now, he says, and stop signs would force them to slow down or take the Anthony Henday instead.
Second, rebuild the road from the ground up. "When I grew up as a kid, it was a dirt road," Sommers says. When the county upgraded it to pavement, they just dropped the asphalt on top instead of first digging down to the clay. "It needs a foundation if it's going to handle the traffic today."
The road might need to be rebuilt, McGillis says, which is why the county has asked ISL to look at its foundations. "You can't build a road on black dirt." But such a rebuild would be very expensive — at least $10 million, he estimates.
ISL hopes to present recommendations on the road to the county and St. Albert next spring, Moulds says. Visit www.sturgeoncounty.ca for details.
