Following their review of the documents which led to the decision to change downtown parking on 3rd Avenue from angle to parallel, the Parking Task Force is organizing public meetings with Tony Cheliuk from Alberta Transportation and with iTrans, the consultants who carried out the traffic flow analysis.
Those meetings will help answer some questions which, to date, have remained unanswered.
As the changes made by Alberta Transportation to the intersections on Highway 9 resulted in increased traffic flow on 3rd Avenue, the Task Force is investigating whether changes can be made to reduce the queueing.
One of the key questions will be whether it would be feasible to open another left hand turn from downtown on 2nd Street.
John Shoff, from the Task Force told The Mail, “We are still in the process of getting alternatives and getting options. The biggest hurdle is we need to get an answer from Alberta Transportation.”
Some alternative options will be put forward to Alberta Transportation. For example:
- add a left turn on the 2nd Avenue and 2nd Street West intersection.
- add an advanced left turn delay at the lights on 3rd Avenue and the highway on 2nd street.
- upgrade the light system at 3rd Avenue to a more effective system with a queueing line monitoring camera.
The Task Force will then be in a better position to look at the options available.
Parking Task Force chairman, Barry Fullerton, told The Mail, “We are heading in the right direction and we are still gathering information at this stage.”
Public meetings will be held on Wednesday, March 24 at 4 p.m. in council chambers with Alberta Transportation and on Thursday, March 25 at 4 p.m. with iTrans at Community Futures Big Country’s offices.
