A Greystone Manor resident is criticizing Sturgeon County for blocking a path he says parents use to get their kids safely to a controversial bus stop.
Sturgeon County crews put up barricades at the entrance to a back lane between two houses in Greystone Manor on Monday, Jan. 27. The lane leads to a bus stop on Twp. Rd. 544 (a.k.a. Coal Mine Road) that GSACRD students use to get to St. Albert schools. Area residents have criticized the stop as unsafe due to speeding and traffic. GSACRD superintendent David Keohane said this week two consultants have determined this site to be at the safest spot for this area.
Area parent Ryan Catena said residents have given up trying to convince GSACRD to move the stop and have been driving students to the stop along the 60-metre back lane during the winter.
“It’s a safety concern,” he said, when asked why he and about five other families did so – there are no sidewalks on Coal Mine Road, and the back lane is often very dark and piled with snow in the winter.
County transportation services manager Gary Mayhew said the county had received complaints about people driving down the back lane, which is a public utility lot (PUL) and not designed for traffic. Crews asked GSACRD in December to consider moving the associated bus stop, but the board was not interested, and the county has no authority over the board’s stop locations. Crews also put up signs telling people not to use the lane, but residents ignored them.
Mayhew said the county blocked the lane for safety reasons. There’s a gate where it meets Coal Mine Rd., so any cars on it have to back up to get out, which is dangerous for any pedestrians on it.
“For this reason alone, Sturgeon County cannot endorse or ignore vehicles driving on the PUL,” he said.
Catena said parents have now started parking their cars on Coal Mine Rd. to ensure their kids get to the bus stop. It’s not a safe place to park, he said, as the road has no shoulders, but it’s not safe for kids to walk along either.
“The safest way for us to get our kids to the bus stop is by driving,” he said.
“Coal Mine Road is an unsafe place to be parking cars,” he said, as it has no shoulder, but it’s not safe to walk along either for little kids.
Catena said the county should let residents drive their kids to the bus stop along this back lane during the winter, noting two homeowners had legal agreements to use the lane for their RVs.
Mayhew said crews would likely install bollards at one end of the lane at some point.
