There are a couple of considerations I wanted to add to Bob Russell's comments on the proposed closing of Villeneuve Road and the construction Fowler Way ("Shred plan to close Villeneuve Road," Gazette, March 7).
Mr. Russell already spoke to the issue of direct access to Sturgeon hospital, especially since some medical air services have been consolidated at the Villeneuve Airport in the wake of the closure of the Edmonton Municipal Airport. It is unfortunate that proximity to what has become a busy road is affecting the sleep (and possibly the property values) of some North Ridge residents ... but I would argue that the existence of timely access to potentially life-saving treatment at a nearby hospital by those who need it is of higher importance.
The diversion that Fowler Way would cause could easily make the difference in time between life and death for someone in critical condition. And indeed, one might even expect ambulances to forego the use of Fowler Way entirely, and to instead opt to race down Hogan Road and then Giroux Drive ... or Deer Ridge Drive, through the school zones thereupon.
This, in turn, leads to a second concern. Drivers being people, there's little doubt that much of the traffic from Villeneuve Road will opt to route south onto Hogan, and then onto Giroux or Deer Ridge, rather than endure the significant northward diversion that Fowler Way would impose. This traffic, too, would thus pass through several school zones that it would otherwise circumvent entirely were Villeneuve Road kept open. Did we not just receive the city's "Safe Journeys to School" report? How would re-routing all this traffic "minimize the risks of traffic injuries and collisions involving students?"
Kenneth Kully, St. Albert
