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Traffic changes make no sense

Local resident shares construction observations from his West Trail home.

As a West Trail resident I can only observe in disbelief at the up and coming changes to traffic flow in downtown Trail. If I was a business owner in the downtown core I would be up in arms in what is soon going to be the death knell of any possibility of resurrecting vitality there.

What possibly can the downtown revitalizing committee bethinking of by eliminating the right-hand turn lanes on both Cedar and Pine avenues? Getting in and out of Bay Ave. is already a gong show, redirecting all truck traffic to it and forcing people who wish to turn towards the bridge into queues of left turning cars can only be best described as bizarre.

At best if no one is coming out of the McDonald’s side of Pine Ave. only six cars can make a left hand turn heading towards Castlegar, Warfield and Rossland. Forcing the right hand turn lane to now join the queue will make it nearly impossible to make it in two lights, if not three. The addition of the bump outs might seem like an attractive idea aesthetically but just who is going to use them? Business people? Shoppers on a mission? I guess we can showcase Trail to all the people passing through with our new demographic mix, because that’s who has time to sit there and watch the traffic go by. The Home of Champions has dwindled into a whisper of its former self and decries a name change desperately!

But back to the traffic issue. It is obvious the people on the downtown revitalization committee don’t turn off the bridge onto Bay during business hours, then try to get into or out of the A&W, El Centro, the medical clinic or even down to the other end of downtown. They also don’t turn left at the 7-11 except maybe after meeting hours. What was wrong with the turn that was? Is this change just for the sake of making it?

Give your heads a shake people. I am not complaining about the inconvenience of the construction although it is truly obvious no one single thought was given to traffic flow during construction. I think most people are okay with a little delay for new construction that will benefit the community. City council will have to take some of the blame for this too as almost surely they must have approved this plan. Trail is already one of the worst small towns to drive through with its totally un-synchronized traffic lights. With all the brouhaha about ‘idle no more’ where is the thought to reduce congestion and idling engines? Along with the decision to not renovate the old bridge, downtown businesses surely must see where they are on the priority list of the powers that be.

To top it all off after all of the discussions over the years on the topic of downtown parking you even eliminated a parking spot on the north end of Cedar Ave! It’s not too late till it is all paved over! Re-think this now and it is going to save a lot of money later!

Ron JosephTrail