Residents living on McFarlane Street aside, few have the front-row seat to traffic on that road that Fergus Crough has occupied over the past three years.
As the crossing guard for Armour Heights Public School students, Crough is seeing not only more traffic and speeding on McFarlane Street but also an increase in the number of trucks using the road.
“You would rarely see a big truck here … maybe a dozen over the past few years,” he says, adding “Now I’m seeing two or three per day. Big tandems, tractor trailers … all sizes of trucks.”
Since October 5th, McFarlane Street has been one of a number of East City roads greatly impacted as a result of a number of detours put in place by the City of Peterborough to accommodate Park Canada’s reconstruction of the Warsaw Swing Bridge on Parkhill Road East between Armour Road and Television Road.
That work is scheduled to be completed by spring 2021. Until then, with Parkhill Road East at the bridge closed to all but local traffic.
Eastbound traffic is being diverted to use University Road, Nassau Mills Road and Armour Road, while westbound traffic is being steered toward Television Road, Lansdowne Street East, and Ashburnham Drive.
Meanwhile, MacFarlane Avenue, Old Norwood Road, and Maniece Avenue between Ashburnham Drive and Television Road are each closed to all but local traffic. (MacFarlane Avenue connects to McFarlane Street via Trentview Road, which is also closed to through traffic).
Since the detours came into effect, a growing and very loud collective voice has resonated from East City where a number of residents are expressing their concerns — not only over the resulting traffic gridlock but also the fact they weren’t consulted prior to the detour decision.
Even more maddening for concerned residents, they aren’t hearing back from city officials despite several attempts to seek some resolution.
“We understood that when the work on the swing bridge happened, we would face interruptions and inconveniences, but I don’t think anyone was prepared for the city to shut down several access streets to East City like they have,” says Euclid Avenue resident Andrew MacGregor, referring to the closures of through traffic on McFarlane Avenue, Old Norwood Road, and Maniece Avenue.
“Parks Canada closing the bridge to work on it isn’t the problem, that work really needs to get done,” MacGregor adds. “The problem is we can’t exit our neighbourhoods.”
Using the East City Ptbo Facebook page as its social media platform, a large group of East City residents, MacGregor among them, have been pushing hard for a review of, and modifications to, the detour plan.
Among the more outspoken of the group has been Armour Road resident Brenda Cowan, a hearing aid practitioner whose business, The Ear Depot, is located near the swing bridge on Parkhill Road East. While she says her business hasn’t been adversely affected by the closure of Parkhill Road East, she has seen a substantial increase in traffic on Armour Road as a result.
VIDEO: Detour traffic in East City, Peterborough – October 31, 2020
“There has been a domino effect of safety issues, infrastructure issues, and signage issues that have resulted from the closure of Maniece Avenue and Old Norwood Road,” says Cowan.
“We (the group) don’t want committees. We don’t want discussion. We don’t want studies. We want the (local traffic only) signs removed from Maniece and Old Norwood Road. They’re public roads. They’re not under construction. It’s a cash grab with a $110 fine and two demerit points for disobeying road signs.”
“Residents living on those streets are no more important than we are. Why don’t we just close Armour Road because I don’t like the traffic? I don’t have a problem at all when there’s construction on the roads closed. They’ve closed public roads paid for by our taxes. They’re closing these roads because we’re not in the same bracket as residents on those streets. I’ve lived long enough in this town to know that’s the case.”
Then there’s the matter of increased traffic on McFarlane Street and the adverse effect that heavy truck traffic in particular may be having on the four-ton limit single-lane McFarlane Street bridge.
“Because there’s no proper signage at Lansdowne and Ashburnham Drive for trucks coming off the highway, they’re going up Ashburnham and over the bridge,” says Cowan, adding “Someone is going to get critically hurt or killed if that bridge collapses.”
Ashburnham Ward councillor Keith Riel, along with his ward councillor colleague Gary Baldwin, has heard it good from the group. While Riel dismisses outright any suggestion that road closure decisions are made with residents’ income status or property tax contribution in mind, he agrees this road detour plan is in need of revision.
“There was no consultation with council on this, this was a city staff decision,” he says.
“I probably have more questions than solutions, but something has to be done. We’re looking at eight months of these road closures that are not conducive to moving people.”
Councillor Riel will have the opportunity to ask his questions this Tuesday (November 3rd) when a meeting on the issue is held, involving himself and Councillor Baldwin, city staff, Mayor Diane Therrien, and neighbouring county officials and politicians.
“Decisions were made based on the fact that the roads (MacFarlane Avenue, Old Norwood Road, and Maniece Avenue) aren’t designed or engineered to handle the (anticipated) volume but it has turned political,” assesses Mayor Therrien.
“The decision was made to try and limit those roads to local traffic only and direct everyone else to roads that were designed to handle higher volume. We’re open to any feedback if there is anything that can make it easier.”
For his part, MacGregor wants to hear acknowledgement that what is in place isn’t working and revisions are going to be made.
“Nobody is suggesting that we shouldn’t be detouring cars or we shouldn’t be doing the bridge work, but the inconveniences that have been imposed are overstepping.”
Should that meeting amount to nothing in terms of no changes, MacGregor promises an escalation of the group’s efforts.
“It was easy to put these restrictions in place, so it’s easy to remove them,” he says, adding a petition on the matter is prepared and ready to be issued via social media. “We won’t take no for answer.”
Cowan, however, is not optimistic the November 3rd meeting will result in any changes. She’s basing that on the fact that the group’s pleas have been, according to her, ignored — outside of Councillor Riel’s efforts.
“They (city staff) have been very poor responding to us because they want it to go away,” she says.
“I want to see the politicians stand up and do the job they were elected for. They were very quick to come to our door and want our vote. They better be just as quick to reach out when their constituents don’t like decisions that been made.”
“I’m 71 years old. I don’t care about people’s egos or toes being stepped on at City Hall. They are there to represent us. It’s not a dictatorship but they’re using COVID-19 as a cover for pushing through things improperly.”
Both MacGregor and Cowan say, if anything, this exercise in citizen dissent has proven there is power in numbers.
“When we start to show that we’re willing to put time and effort into making this something bigger than just simply emailing councillors, that sends a very big message,” MacGregor says. “We’re not waiting for them to come back and tell us they’re not going to do anything.”
He adds the group’s perception is they’re being viewed at City Hall as simply “neighbours making noise.”
“Some level of injustice has happened here. City staff went ahead and made decisions unilaterally without consultation from the neighbourhood or city council. That would have taken time, but taking time is necessary. Yes, we’re making a loud noise. What we are wanting to hear is they agree this situation isn’t working and that they’re going to make changes.”
