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A busy Stoney Creek Mountain road has people in the area demanding changes. They say it was never built for the kind of traffic it’s seeing.
Residents on Second Road West want what they’ve been promised for years, their street closed to what they’re calling dangerous traffic. But for a growing neighbourhood bordered by a conservation area, change is proving rather difficult.
At five o’clock the traffic is heavy and steady on Second Road West. Lee Austin has seen enough. “I refrain from having the children out here as much as possible.” The father of eight is not alone.
It’s not just the neighbours, landscaper Ryan Beacroft has been working on the street this past week. “All I’ve been seeing is nothing but car after car coming back and forth. I can’t even pull into the driveway.”
Wednesday morning neighbours saw an all too familiar sight. A woman had to be cut out of her car down closer to Rymal Road after a collision caused by a speeding and aggressive driver. The 79 year old woman is recovering at home, and a man is facing failure to stop charges.
The street runs between busy Rymal Road East and Highland Road West. There are dozens of new houses going up, making the area a construction site. The city closed the nearest through street, Upper Mount Albion Road two years ago over safety concerns. People in the neighborhood want to see Second Road West closed as well.
According to resident Luis Ponte “the road was slated to be closed. We were shown plans.” The discovery of and opening of the Eramosa Karst Conservation Area nixed those plans, leaving Second Road West one of only arteries left for traffic.
Another problem, trucks. Signs are posted, but residents say they regularly see trucks on their street.
Next summer a bypass on the Upper Red Hill Valley Parkway at Stone Church Road is set to open that is supposed to relieve the congestion. In the meantime Ward 9 Councillor Doug Conley says he feels for the residents. “It will never be an ordinary street, there’s always going to be traffic on there. But let’s see what happens when that happens and re-assess the whole situation. It’s harder than you think to just close a street.”