LAC LA BICHE – After nearly two hours of presentations and feedback at a special council meeting held on March 26, 101 Street in Lac La Biche will revert to a two-way road and administration will return to council with options for a left turn streetlight.
The $32.5 million Main Street Revitalization Project has been ongoing in the community since 2021, with work being done to replace outdated underground utilities and beautify Main Street (101 Avenue) between 100 Street and 103 Street. The long-term goal is to create an attractive atmosphere for residents and tourists.
At the end of October 2024, 101 Street was converted from a two-way street to a northbound one-way street between 101 Avenue and 102 Avenue, where it becomes a two-way street again.
Gail Broadbent owns a professional corporation and other businesses in downtown Lac La Biche. She said she was initially in favour of the one-way street but has changed her mind after seeing the traffic impact.
“It's always been a narrow street. There used to be two grocery stores there. I remember I drove it, and we somehow survived all the time, and it was never an issue. So, I don't see a big issue going back,” said Broadbent.
Caleb Abougouche, one of the owners of AG Foods said the feedback from customers has been very negative.
“If the objective is to beautify Main Street, that definitely did not happen. Constantly the barriers are being blown down. It's dangerous to walk across,” said Abougouche.
Former Staff Sergeant of the Lac La Biche RCMP Henry van Dorland also spoke against the one-way street, describing two narrowly avoided car accidents.
“I don’t have the stats anymore in regard to the accidents . . . but for the accidents I had ever known about, there was nothing ever major at that street with it being a two-way street,” said van Dorland, who is now retired.
Ward 6 Coun. Sterling Johnson called the change “a failure” but noted that studies of the street showed it is too narrow for safely backing out of the angled parking stalls.
“For me, this is a disaster, but we have no solution going forward,” said Johnson, noting he thought [traffic and safety concerns] would get worse with the planned bulb-out (a traffic calming measure which widens the sidewalk for a short distance to improve visibility of pedestrians.)
Ward 5 Coun. Charlynn Moore said she heard positive feedback from many residents who were not present at the meeting. She didn’t think the one-way street was given a fair shot and felt there was poor communication about the change.
“Where was our signage? Why is our signage not up? Why did we not have preliminary drawings that this is coming? Why are we not warning people? Why are we not getting ahead of this? We didn't get ahead of it, and we failed,” said Moore.
A motion “to direct administration to proceed with Option 4, to revert to two-way road, as outlined in the V3 ‘101 one-way road evaluation’ presentation as part of the Main Street Revitalization presentation” was carried with unanimous support. According to administration, the project is currently under budget and no additional funds are needed to accommodate the change.
A second motion “to direct administration to present options for a left turn light going south on 101 Street” was also carried with unanimous support.
