Letters

Scrap left turn ban proposal and make a decision: reader

July 6, 2016   ·   0 Comments

An Open Letter to Mayor & Council:

Every time I read a story in the local papers pertaining to the horrendous traffic woes every citizen has to endure at the centre of town, I’m first amused, then my blood boils.
Reading the story on Council’s latest delay made that boil faster.
Mayor Dawe states that “one of the key components of the pilot is pending local feedback, and that has been lacking so far.”
What? After reading the first story in The Auroran (week of June 23) I immediately zipped off an email to you and all Council members, giving you the solution to the traffic problems at the Yonge/Wellington intersection, but you obviously either haven’t read your email yet or you chose to ignore it. I would suspect the latter.
Over 16 years ago, I proposed this solution to Town Council by making a presentation at more than one Council meeting. I had charts, graphs, you name it. I also presented a report from the Region of York traffic department following a study they conducted on this intersection, REQUESTED by Council of the day.
It was all ignored. This report concluded that a dedicated right hand turn lane from southbound Yonge to westbound Wellington was warranted and could be quickly installed by the Town. But, once again, council ignored the advice of the very source they asked suggestions from. So, why is Council so interested in public input now?
My 16-plus year plan will still work today and make a lot of drivers in this town appreciative that Council finally made a decision about this problem corner. I proposed that the Town expropriate land from in front of the BMO (mostly sidewalk), and install this right hand turn lane.
This does three things:
1. Will ease the flow of traffic through this very busy intersection by allowing vehicles turning to westbound Wellington to not impede southbound traffic.
2. The current left lane of southbound traffic would then become a dedicated Left Turn lane to eastbound Wellington, once again not impeding southbound flow of traffic, and finally…
3. The current curb lane would be a dedicated southbound lane for vehicles heading to the south of Aurora. So simple that a blind man could see this would work.
What does Council do? Let’s send this back to Staff to study some more. Once Staff’s recommendations are received, they send them back to Staff to investigate MORE. Why?
Across the street, beside the TD bank, the Region identified a problem with right hand turns from Wellington to northbound Yonge. What they did was act upon the problem by expropriating land, building the right hand turn lane and traffic has been a breeze through that intersection ever since. At the time of my original proposal, a right hand turn lane from southbound Yonge to westbound Wellington would have cost roughly $60,000. Sixteen years later, it’s going to be at least 10 times that amount or more.
So, Mayor Dawe, you see, public feedback isn’t lacking as you stated.
Just like everything else, you and Council choose to ignore the obvious and keep on NOT making a decision. The only response I received from my email was from Councillor Thom, and I appreciated that very much. So I, along with a great number of drivers in this Town, ask you and Council to make a decision.
Scrap any idea of restricting left turns at this corner and install the right hand turn lane from Yonge Street.

Mark Holmes
Aurora

         

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