Traffic study information from the 47th Street/55th Avenue intersection shows that changes are needed

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Last March, a resident approached Whitecourt Town Council about their concerns on an intersection in front of their home. The resident was worried about the speeds travelled on 47th Street in the vicinity of the intersection with 55th Avenue and felt something needed to change to protect drivers and pedestrians. Their concerns triggered a traffic study, and at last Monday’s Policies and Priorities Committee meeting Town Administration brought forward the results.

Michael Harper, Civil Engineering Technologist for the Town of Whitecourt, said that they did digital recordings of both the volume and speed travelled by motorists. “We determined that both were very high, especially along 47th street. We also evaluated the geometry along the intersection and determined that we do have sightline issues, again, especially on 47th street due to on-street parking particularly.” He said that the level of service for motorists in the intersection is still ok and that physical measures are not yet needed, such as streetlights. However, he did recommend non-physical measures to change the sightlines and increase safety.

“We are recommending putting enforcement in that area by way of photo radar and other signage with hopes that it can change driver behaviour to slow traffic down.” Changing sightlines means removing some of the on-street parking close to the intersection. Councillor Derek Schlosser asked what that would mean for residents in the area. Harper said that much of the street parking on the one side of 47th Street was due to the apartment buildings, adding that each resident has a parking spot in the back.

“They should be parking more in the parking lots behind either of the two apartment buildings. All of those individuals have parking off the back alleyway, and that’s where it is designed to work. Right now, it is not working for the line of sight. It creates problems.” Councillor Schlosser was satisfied to hear that residents were not losing parking space entirely, recognizing that people were using the street parking because it was closer to their door.

Councillor Hilts asked how many street parking spots would be removed. “Total spots would be 10, possibly a dozen, spread out over the four sections of street,” explained Harper. Councillor Hilts then asked if Administration had looked at the root cause analysis of the accidents from the intersection to see what the contributing factors were, and Harper said that they had. “Yes. The weather was the biggest factor. We got the direct data from the RCMP for when the collisions took place and evaluated through Environment Canada when exact dates were. It turned out that a majority of them, being rear-enders, took place when snow fell that day or within 48hrs prior.” He added that those days had also been below negative fifteen degrees meaning that tires were not working as well. “That’s driver behaviour. They could have been driving at exactly 50km/hr. We do not know that information, but the roads were more of a factor than anything else, and it wasn’t a line of sight (issue) for those types of accidents.”

Mayor Maryann Chichak asked about the long-term changes that Administration was looking into for the area. “In the future, there is the possibility of traffic signals at 55th and 47th, but are there any thoughts or is there any possibility that this will become an arterial road where it would be four lanes? And does it even have the capacity to do that without a lot of investment and infrastructure?” Harper said that it would take significant investment to update the road. “You would have to eliminate parking all the way along and probably expand the roadway. Right now, the roadway is exactly 13 metres. I think we would have to make that slightly wider.”

Mayor Chichak theorized that motorists were using 47th street to transition from other roadways and avoid going through school zones, similar to the other end of 55th avenue. “I can see that with the school’s increased capacity that this road is going to become an issue sooner than later for the community to address, which is why I was curious as to how you do more traffic calming without a lot of major investment.” Traffic Calming is a method used to bring down the speed on roads by using speed bumps, signs, islands, roundabouts, and curb extensions. Harper said that they are looking into the future development needed and that studies in the area will continue. He said they would also be looking into Trading Post Trail to directly correlate where the traffic on 47th street is coming from and learn more about if motorists are using it to bypass other areas of town.

Councillor Schlosser asked about another issue that could be playing a role. “I know that we have some of the best-plowed roads in the country. I will take that Pepsi Challenge against anyone who says they have better plowed roads than Whitecourt because they do not. However, I do see a lot of our residents with summer tires or all-season tires that are really not prepared for winter. I know that if I am trying to stop, I can leave myself all the room I want to with the car in front of me, but if I don’t have winter tires, I’m simply not going to be able to stop. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to have a campaign with local tire shops coming up in the fall, to try and educate our residents about the importance of winter tires.”

Mayor Chichak agreed. “That’s a good point because it’s not just that street. There’s a lot of accidents that happen even on Dahl Drive, and it is about driving on tires that shouldn’t be used for inclement weather.” Councillor Hilts then asked if bump-outs, extensions from the sidewalk that encourage slower driving, could be utilized or if the cost would be too high. “The cost implications are substantial. You would have to adjust all the catch basins underneath the road and your storm sewers accordingly,” explained Harper.

He said that there are not enough accidents to warrant the expenditure. If there were multiple intersections along 47th street with four or five accidents per year consistently, they would be more inclined to suggest significant infrastructure changes. Council will review the committee’s recommendations at an upcoming meeting.