Despite fighting for a change to the speed limit at the Highway 36/28 intersection near Ashmont for years, the County of St. Paul once again heard a resounding no from the provincial government.
“Based on the road characteristics, the surrounding developments, and the intersection design, the 80km/h zone should not be extended to the junction of Highway 28 and 36,” reads a speed limit review document from Alberta Transportation. “This segment of roadway has limited development and has no accesses. Additionally, the road is flat with adequate sight distance as vehicles approach the intersection. The collision history does not indicate serious safety problems along the segment or at the intersection.”
A speed limit change near the entrance of the Ashmont schools was granted a couple of years ago, but the province has refused to extend the speed limit to include the intersection of the two highways.
“As a lower speed limit is not justified, reducing the speed limit would create compliance problems, which would result in safety issues,” adds the review document.
County of St. Paul Reeve Steve Upham was visibly displeased with the province’s decision, when speaking about the topic at Tuesday’s meeting.
“For some reason, they just don’t want to budge on this one,” he said, adding, it appears that Alberta Transportation is being inconsistent with similar situations in other parts of the province.
Also on Tuesday’s agenda was a Traffic Impact Student done for the new Ashmont School, which will be built near the existing Ashmont schools.
The study was done to see if there should be any changes made that would improve traffic flow feeding the school.
According to the conclusions of the Traffic Impact Assessment, “the school site will accommodate 900 students at build-out, an increase of 300 students over existing school enrollment and an estimated 50 additional staff. This is projected to generate an additional 144 equivalent passenger vehicles entering and exiting the school site, with 62 trips in the a.m. peak hour and 82 additional trips in the p.m. peak hour.”
The Traffic Impact Assessment conclusion states that the intersection of Highway 28 and Range Road 112 should be upgraded to meet opening day traffic demand for the 2017 opening, and beyond.
When referencing the Highway 36/28 intersection, the assessment states, “The intersections of Highway 28 and Highway 36 is anticipated to operate well under capacity for post-development traffic conditions, with the exception of the northbound to westbound left turn movement . . . no improvements will be necessary to accommodate the anticipated opening day traffic volumes.”
A 30km/hour school zone is also recommended for the “full duration of school hours” along Range Road 112, in the vicinity of the replacement school.
Council agreed to provide SPERD with a letter supporting the recommendations in the Traffic Impact Assessment.
