The Town of Drumheller carried out a traffic count over the May long weekend on Riverside Drive and 5 Street, between 3 Avenue and 4 Avenue-also known as Schumacher’s Corner.
Town council previously requested the Drumheller Resiliency and Flood Mitigation Office (DRFMO) pause work on the Downtown Dike Phase 2 and explore alternate options in April 2022; this announcement came following a public hearing to close a portion of Riverside Drive at which members of the public voiced their concerns regarding the proposed closure both in-person and through written correspondence.
“There will be a second traffic count conducted over the August long weekend as well,” shares Director of Digital Advertising for Alchemy Communications Kate Chase, adding more information will be available after this time.
Data from the May long weekend count shows a total of 5,855 vehicles travelled northbound and 5,920 vehicles travelled southbound between the hours of 10 a.m. Thursday, May 19 and 9:59 a.m. Tuesday, May 24. The annual average daily traffic (AADT) proposes an estimated 2,355 vehicles travel this area of Riverside Drive daily.
Along with counting the number of vehicles using this route, other data collected also included speed and vehicle size.
It found 98 per cent or 11,544 of the vehicles using the route were medium-sized sedan style vehicles, and the average speed travelled along the route was about 45 kilometres per hour.
However, one concerning figure was the top recorded speed captured of 87 kilometres per hour-37 kilometres per hour faster than the posted speed of 50 kilometres per hour for the area-at about 8 a.m. Friday, May 20.
This data will be used to help the Town and DRFMO better understand traffic flow along Riverside Drive over a long weekend and compare it to data from a previous Traffic Impact Assessment for the Downtown Dike project.
Raw data from this count can be found at https://floodreadiness.drumheller.ca/be-informed/resources/drumheller-resiliency-and-flood-mitigation-office.
