This letter has been sent to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Brian Mason, Banff-Cochrane MLA Cam Westhead and all members of council for the Town of Cochrane.
It is with great sadness and frustration that this letter is written.
To our First Responders, thank you.
Last week another driver lost their life on Highway 1A through Cochrane. This is the second collision or incident on this highway between Heritage Hills and my own community of Heartland in as many weeks.
For years the province has “promised” to improve road safety; but words ring hollow. More collisions, more traffic nightmares, more lives and families destroyed.
As for our mayor and council, they keep allowing developers to build and build. But we still have no new infrastructure. We simply can’t handle the volume and congestion.
Why can’t the communities of Heritage Hills and Heartland have a 60 km/h speed limit until after Horse Creek Road? I’m tired of being tailgated, having near misses and otherwise trying to get home safely– this stretch of road should not be 100 km/h.
It’s time for answers from the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, our MLA and our council. How many more lives have to be destroyed? How many more collisions? When is enough, enough?
Your worship and council, stop the development until the province gives us better highways. To the province, reduce the speed limit at the very least until you can provide residents and taxpayers with better highways.
Thank you,
Robb Aishford
Editor’s note. Mayor Ivan Brooker forwarded the following response to the above letter.
I appreciate your email and thought I could provide some background as well as an update on this issue. Council agrees that the speed limit on this stretch of road should have been lowered.
We asked for a review of the speeds by the province quite a while back, as you can see nothing was changed at that time. Since then and with the continued development of Heartland and Heritage Hills we are getting two sets of lights installed this summer at those intersections, being paid for by the developers.
I can't imagine the speed limit being anything other than the 60 km/h you suggested between these lights, which then takes the 100 km/h limit outside of our town boundaries. Just so you know, we have already requested another review of the current speeds even knowing that the lights are coming.
It's so sad that this has happened, I understand that it wasn't just speed but an impaired driver crossing the center line that caused this accident.
Thank you for sharing your concerns
Mayor Ivan Brooker
