The transportation branch at the City of St. Albert has once again failed commuters by trying to solve a problem and in the process create new and more dangerous ones.
I'm talking about recent changes to the intersection of Boudreau Road and Campbell Road where north-bound commuters coming into St. Albert on Campbell Road now have two dedicated left turn (westbound) lanes onto Boudreau Road. By taking away the left flow through lane to make a dedicated left turn lane, this has created two major problems.
First, traffic in the right lane travelling north on Campbell Road through the intersection, is now backing up all the way to the Anthony Henday overpass, essentially re-creating the problem they were trying to solve for the left-turning traffic.
Second, commuters heading south on Campbell Road wishing to turn left (eastbound) onto Boudreau Road are faced with an extremely dangerous turn as they cannot see oncoming through traffic coming at 60 km/hr. as the double turn lanes block their view. I will guarantee that there will be serious accidents here as a result of this change.
Are these decisions not thought out? Are there any traffic analysis skills at work here?
I strongly urge administration and council to visit this dangerous and ineffective traffic change and instruct the transportation branch to return it to its original configuration. We've seen angle parking on Perron Street returned to parallel parking which is the right decision. Hopefully sanity will prevail again.
Jeff Bertram, St. Albert
