KSS Traffic Safety Project

$2,450,000 Road Safety Project

At the council meeting on October 23 2024, staff requested authorization to submit a grant application for $500,000 and to include a provision in the 2025 - 2029 Financial Plan for long term borrowing of $1.4 million to be repayable over 10 years from property taxation. The grant and borrowing was for the Kwalikum Secondary School (KSS) Safety Enhancement Project. Never heard of it? Me neither. Apparently, it ranks second in priority on the Community Transportation Plan, behind the repaving and traffic calming elements of Highway19A between Judges Row and Crescent Road West. News to you? It was also news to our Mayor who understood that the highest priority project under the Community Transportation Plan was the Village Way/Eaglecrest roundabout.

As it turned out, it really didn't matter as the request was shelved until more particulars could be provided. And that is a good thing as the presentation made to council failed to clearly explain the project. By way of background, the presentation stated that the project aims to improve pedestrian safety and infrastructure along Village Way near Condor Way.

Key components of this project include a new crosswalk, approximately 340 meters of sidewalk, the new installation of trees in soil cells, upgraded street lighting, and an oil /grit separator to filter runoff before it enters Schoolhouse Creek. In addition, raised median islands at both ends of the project will contribute to traffic calming and approximately 38 new curbside parking spaces will be created. The foregoing is copied from the written report presented to council so you now know as much as them in determining how to proceed with the project. It would have been nice to have seen a rendition of the end result of this project. However, there were no drawings or photos attached to the report so the actual infrastructure and location is unknown.

I do not think anyone would be opposed to a project that promoted safety for our school children. Sidewalks and crosswalks are good things. However, given the lack of a drawing of the project, it is not possible to determine how the proposed sidewalks and crosswalks will fit in with the existing ones. My recollection is that there are currently no sidewalks on Village Way, so new sidewalks to nowhere are not a solution. The addition of new curbside parking spaces is also a concern. I think we can all foresee a student, late for class, not going to the the newly installed crosswalk but rather entering the street from between cars parked in the new parking spaces.

The actual project becomes even murkier when the financial aspects are examined. The total cost, including approximately $150,000 for cost escalations, is $2,450,000. Of this $445,000 will be used to replace an aging water main. It appears that the plan is to replace this before "reconstructing the road to avoid cutting the new asphalt in the future, to replace the water main before the end of its life". The balance of the funding is for the surface works and the storm system. How this actually breaks down among sidewalks, crosswalks, trees in soil cells, parking spaces, upgraded street lighting and the oil/grit separator is unknown. Also unknown is how some of these "improvements" promote safety. Much more information is required.

I say "Back to the drawing board."

Jim Noel

October 24 2024

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