Parkway extension will double traffic on Wilkes

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This article was published 08/08/2012 (4794 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Traffic on portions of Wilkes Avenue is expected to increase by more than 100% when an extension of the William Clement Parkway is completed, according to a recently released city report.

City traffic engineers conducted an interim study in April and May, and found extending the parkway as a two-lane roadway would significantly increase traffic on Wilkes while it reduces traffic volumes on local streets by up to 40%.

“Right now there’s a lot of traffic going through the neighbouring streets, and the parkway will draw that traffic away from residential streets into that road,” said study author and city engineer Luis Escobar.

In late April, city council approved speeding up the completion of the extension from 2021 to 2016. The city’s transportation master plan estimates the extension will cost $60 million.

The parkway is expected to help carry some of the additional traffic that will be generated by the IKEA, Seasons of Tuxedo and CentrePort developments.

About half of the proposed Ridgewood South housing development cannot be built until the parkway is extended.

Haney Street resident Murray Morien said traffic is already increasing on Wilkes, and upgrades to the roadway should be completed prior to the parkway being extended.

The quality of the road, especially between Fairmont and Elmhurst Streets, is enough to give even seasoned drivers white knuckles, he said.

“It’s just hold on to the steering wheel. I wouldn’t want to be driving a big truck.”

The city doesn’t have any immediate plans to upgrade Wilkes, Escobar acknowledged.

“It’s not needed until the parkway is extended,” he said.

“Once funding is secure for the extension, then we’d likely also be recommending we be doing (future) work on Wilkes to accommodate the increase.”

Morein, who’s lived on Haney for much of the past 50 years, said he opposes the extension, which is expected to eat up a significant portion of his backyard.

He said there are too many unanswered questions about the extension, like what kind of loads will be permitted on the road, how much land the city will require, and what kind of buffer will be provided for neighbouring residents.

“What they’ve told us, the consulting engineers, they want to clear cut the whole area and put up a vinyl fence like the one on the Perimeter Highway near Saskatchewan Avenue,” he said.

Another Haney resident, Harold Strom, also opposes the extension.

Strom, who runs www.keepcharleswoodgreen.com, believes the parkway will bring more traffic than the study concludes, and many more residential streets will be demanding speed humps to calm traffic.

Both Strom and Morien blame the city for allowing development of McDowell Bay, a small street on the west side of the extension they feel will squeeze the extension into a tighter space than originally planned.

Strom said he can see the windows of his neighbours on McDowell through the bush in his backyward.

“People are going to be driving from Clement and funneled into a narrow highway, and it’s going to become a major truck route,” Strom said.

“It’s going to become unbearable there.”

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matt.preprost@canstarnews.com