Having read the letters from Vivian Pharis and Dan Cunin, I reflected on the nonsensical approach to many issues, which plague our little community.
The push for development is clearly overwhelming our infrastructure as it is and not much emphasis is put into this aspect. Anyone going to work in Calgary in the morning commute will bear witness to that fiasco. It can take as much as a half-hour to 40 minutes to get from Sunset to Fireside.
Or the line of traffic coming down the big hill that extends from past GlenEagles all the way to the 22. Oh yes, throw in the bylaw folks who magically appear at going home time with their little telescope to catch the naughty ones who are doing whatever they do in their vehicles that could be a ticket-able offence while waiting for traffic to move, or the speed trap going up the 22 to sunset nabbing folks who just want to get home. That 60 zone is nothing more than a cash grab and everyone knows it. By the way no I didn't get a ticket.
Great, let's build more subdivisions and not hold developers accountable for proper infrastructure upgrades. Putting in a merge lane isn't quite what we have in mind here. One exit for the entire subdivision of Sunset, a community under development for more than 10 years! One only needs to look at Heritage and Heartland on the 1A! The 22 and 1A are a joke.
Further down, only in Alberta does one see traffic lights at both ends of a two-way bridge across a river. East bound on the 1A up to the traffic lights can be backed up to the horizon on a Monday long weekend. When it comes to developers our town council appears to be like those bobble heads we used to see in the backs of cars. Always nodding yes.
As for the slaughterhouse effect on wildlife on our roads, Vivian is spot on. Deer Elk and Moose abound due to the effect of urban sprawl. I get absolutely ill when I see these beautiful creatures splattered in the ditch and a busted up vehicle parked waiting for a tow. I have always questioned loudly why 99 per cent of landowners deny hunting access while they are the main cause of the carnage on the roads in the first place.
The wildlife is flourishing due to the lack of predators because of development and the ungulate numbers are increasing yearly. They are forced to move about more and more in search of grazing and avoidance of dogs and whatnot. Such a waste and the ones who created the problem go about their happy lives oblivious of this problem. One can spend an entire week knocking on doors looking for permission to bow hunt and come up empty handed yet more than 80 per cent of wild life deaths are from vehicles.
So now a push to build 14,000 residences on the 1A. More pressure on the infrastructure and the wildlife and no real thought going into how to manage the issue. Put in another set of lights I guess.
Pat Cady
