Cimarron residents exhaled a sigh of relief last week when they learned there wouldn’t be traffic lights outside their homes.
Council approved installation of traffic signals at Cimarron Blvd. and Cimarron Drive in April. The lights would have cost $200,000 and were to be installed by the end of 2017.
In June, the Town reversed its decision to install traffic lights after consulting with the public, including area residents and members of the Cimarron Advisory Group Committee, which had met through 2016 to discuss options for traffic calming in the neighbourhood.
“We didn’t really get a lot of support to go ahead with the signals at this time, because they’re not warranted from a traffic volume perspective,” said Marley Oness, Okotoks engineering manager. “It was more to try to create gaps in the traffic and whatnot for people’s driveways and to allow better access onto the boulevard.”
A traffic calming study conducted in 2016 determined the traffic signals were not currently warranted from a traffic volume perspective, but would ultimately be necessary. Oness said the lights could have provided safe crossing for pedestrians and breaks in traffic flow to make it easier for drivers to exit side streets or driveways.
He said the decision was made before the detailed design process began, and the Town had not spent anything on the project yet.
Instead of traffic signals, the Town will be installing rapid flashing beacons by the end of 2017 to improve safety for pedestrians at the intersection.
It’s a much better solution, says Cimarron resident Richard Dansereau.
“We’ll be happy with the flashing beacons, that will work,” said Dansereau. “The biggest thing around here was safety, and the residents here said we wanted to have our kids be safe enough crossing the street, especially during the Okotoks rush hour after school.”
He said it’s a bonus that the beacons will come in at a fraction of the price of the traffic signals, costing less about $20,000 to install. Traffic lights are a cost the Town doesn’t need to incur, he said.
They also had concerns about house values dropping with the lights out front. Dansereau said he was particularly worried about getting out of his own driveway at the east corner of Cimarron Drive and Cimarron Blvd.
“Me trying to get out of my driveway, being the corner house, would have been such a challenge,” he said. “There would have been queues there, especially during busy times of the day.”
He said it’s already a challenge. He backs his truck into his garage to make it a little easier, but it can still be difficult to get out some day, he said.
“I bought the house on a main boulevard,” said Dansereau. “So I expect some of it, but not like it is now. Over the last three years it’s definitely increased in traffic with all the new development going on there.”
With Costco, Save-On-Foods, and other stores currently in the Southbank commercial area, and more to come, he said traffic on Cimarron Blvd. gets worse every year.
He said the Town needs to consider ways to deter drivers from using Cimarron Blvd. as a through-way to Walmart and Sobeys.
“There’s just so many people travelling back and forth in that corridor that you really don’t need to,” said Dansereau. “That’s what the highway should be for, but they just don’t do that.
“There’s got to be different ways to deter people from coming through, and that will help us all out.”
