Dear Editor,
Following on the heels of the first couple of town-sponsored meetings regarding traffic calming in Cimarron, I feel it is appropriate and timely to suggest a solution.
Most residents of Cimarron, and certainly those living on Cimarron Boulevard seemed to have reached a consensus that traffic volume is the number one concern. The volume of traffic that needs to move between the Costco and Walmart shopping areas has reached critical volumes and is in need of calming. The question has become what form that traffic calming should take. As was pointed out numerous times during those traffic calming meetings, squeezing traffic in one area such as Cimarron Estates, creates a bulge of traffic on Cimarron Drive and Cimarron Blvd. The point is that the traffic has to go somewhere and the area is currently at traffic saturation. To my mind the solution lies outside of the Cimarron area.
For some time in talking with neighbours, I’ve always suggested that ways be found to divert the traffic onto Highway 7, but have come to realize that Highway 7 is a provincial highway and Okotoks has only been granted access at two points, both controlled by traffic lights that tend to back traffic up at busy times. With the recent news that annexation is to proceed and that annexation is to include a large swath of farmland adjacent to Highway 7 on the south side, it would seem to me the appropriate time to consider the construction of a high volume road parallel and south of Highway 7 to facilitate the movement of traffic between these two major shopping areas. As for the traffic congestion that occurs at the two traffic lights near Sobeys and Home Depot, I believe that the construction of traffic circles at those two locations would greatly speed up the traffic flows.
I am not a traffic engineer and some may discredit the idea, but the time is ripe for some forward planning to right the poor planning of the past.
Robert Walker
Okotoks
