“Please chime in.”
That’s the request from Paul Orazietti, the executive director of the Cloverdale BIA. His organization just put out a new survey with some critically important questions about Cloverdale and the Highway 10 corridor.
“We’ve been promoting it on social media,” Orazietti said. “The game plan is to look at different elements that can be improved.”
The survey’s been out for about a month. He said it will remain open until at least the end of year.
“The town is bisected by two highways, but it would appear there’s a lot of sensitivity to traffic volume, and other issues, on Highway 10 itself,” Orazietti explained, citing early feedback.
He said they hope to be able to gather enough information to be able to identify several key areas that need to be improved or repaired.
Orazietti cited one area of concern along Highway 10 that is a microcosm for the wider problems of that particular stretch of road. A pole is smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk out in front of Stampede Tack and Western Wear (pictured). Whether the pole was put there later or the sidewalk was built around the pole he doesn’t know, but someone with mobility issues would have a hard time getting around it.
The city’s solution was to build a rectangular extension around the pole, which also creates new issues he noted.
“There’s also a pole in front of McDonald’s (pictured) that’s also in the middle of the sidewalk and it’s an even bigger problem,” Orazietti added. “There are a variety of poles all the way down Highway 10 that are in the middle of the sidewalk. We really need to improve safety for people using the sidewalks on Highway 10. So, we really need to identify what needs to be done.”
A couple of years ago, Orazietti was instrumental in getting a pole moved for the middle of the sidewalk on the corner of intersection of Highway 10 and 177B Street outside the Kohinoor Bistro and Restaurant. That pole blocked anyone in a wheelchair from being able to turn the corner and stay on the sidewalk going from 177B to Highway 10 or vice versa.
“The city and the province don’t tell you when they do stuff, but if they know it’s an irritant, or you have statistics that back up the fact that something needs to be done, then eventually they get to it,” he explained.
“The people who run the highways are concerned with traffic flow and reduction of accidents,” he added. “So if the ‘carnage indicator’ is not high enough for them to say, ‘this is a (crap) show,’ then the problem gets put on the back burner. If the carnage indicator is high, then you get put on it priority list.”
Orazietti said it’s a powerful motivator as no one wants more people to die, so priority is given to areas with more accidents.
He said area residents never really talk about the carnage indicator. The biggest concern for locals is traffic flow.
“Highway 15 is matching Highway 10, if you look at how far the traffic is backed up, it’s pretty intense on both,” he noted. “And it’s only going to get worse.”
A variety of issues are contributing to the growing volume of traffic, including: several new condos and townhouses going in, the new hospital site to be completed in a couple of years, and a new—more than 400,000 square foot—warehouse being completed south of Clover Square Village.
“So, we need to identify everything, figure out what we can do, and move on whatever action items we can.”
Orazietti hopes as many people as possible fill out the new survey so he will have something to present to the new mayor and council and to the new provincial government.
The survey can be found by visiting the BIA’s website—cloverdalebia.com—and clicking on the second slide on the main screen titled, “What’s in store for the Cloverdale town centre?“