{"id":709181,"date":"2026-06-02T03:28:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T03:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/709181\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T03:28:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T03:28:37","slug":"new-4-way-stop-removed-after-causing-traffic-nightmare-in-maple-crest-neighbourhood-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/709181\/","title":{"rendered":"New 4-way stop removed after causing traffic nightmare in Maple Crest neighbourhood – Edmonton"},"content":{"rendered":"

The frustration experienced by thousands of residents of a southeast Edmonton neighbourhood reached a boiling point over the weekend, after a new four-way stop was installed in the Maple Crest<\/a> neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The goal was increased safety on the main road in and out of the neighbourhood \u2014 but it led to big backups and long waits.<\/p>\n

Global News was at the intersection \u2014 Maple Road and 12th Street \u2014 on Monday around noon.\u00a0It wasn\u2019t even rush hour and yet, traffic ground to a halt near the new stop signs.<\/p>\n

The intersection was converted from a two-way stop to a four-way stop on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rationale for it being installed was so that those in the community, north and south of Maple Road would be able to have access, safe access onto Maple Road,\u201d said ward Sspomitapi Councillor Jo-Anne Wright.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

But long after the signs were installed, community members started seeing problems with the plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Whitemud (Drive) to 17th Street, everything was blocked. It took us 40 minutes to just get into our community,\u201d said Farhana Mustafa, a Maple Crest resident.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:02
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tResidents of Maple Crest concerned over lack of ways to get into neighbourhood\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maple Road had already been a longstanding source of contention for many drivers in the area.<\/p>\n

The neighbourhood sits on a pie-shaped sliver of land in southeast Edmonton, flanked by Whitemud Drive to the north and Anthony Henday Drive to the east and south.<\/p>\n

The nearest major road is 17 Street to the west, but getting to on Maple Road it requires crossing CN tracks.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThere is only one paved entrance into the Maple Crest community in Edmonton, and its often blocked by trains.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The newer neighbourhood contains a dense mix of apartments and condo buildings, townhouses, duplexes and single-family homes.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

City census data from 2019 said 2,500 people lived in Maple Crest and the area has only grown in the years since.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.<\/p>\n

Train delays are a common headache for residents and the added four-way intersection \u2014 just a few hundred metres from the train tracks \u2014 pushed some residents over the edge.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA train blocked vehicle traffic on Maple Road in southeast Edmonton on Monday, July 28, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Wright says she received more than 200 emails over the weekend and others reached out to 311.<\/p>\n

Some residents first saw it posted to social media, like Kimberle Peterson.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, I just kind of blew it off, until I actually got out there driving, and yeah, just utter frustration. It shouldn\u2019t have to take that long to get to your house,\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a Sunday afternoon, you wouldn\u2019t expect it to be busy, but the traffic was backed up to 17th (Street).\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

While some felt the effects during rush hour, others say it backed up traffic at random times of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating. Our community, our neighbourhood, everyone is, it\u2019s going to take forever to get into the community,\u201d said Mustafa.<\/p>\n

The City of Edmonton heard the complaints. On Monday afternoon, workers took down the stop signs, trying to get traffic back to normal.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking it from a four-way stop back to a two-way stop, then they\u2019ll be doing a reassessment to see what else might work better for the residents,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another route in and out of Maple Crest \u2014 Railway Street, a dirt road south of the developed area, which gives access to a flyover bridge that goes east into Strathcona County and also connects with 23 Avenue to the south at 17 Street. But that access point also crosses the train tracks about two kilometres to the south.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Traffic
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA train blocking Maple Road in southeast Edmonton on Monday, July 28, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

There have been several fatal crashes on Maple Road over the years: a 35-year-old man was killed last summer<\/a> and in 2021, when\u00a0a 34-year-old woman was hit by a train<\/a>\u00a0while trying to run across the tracks. She was taken to hospital in critical condition\u00a0and died the next day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Global News has spoken with area residents frustrated to see fire trucks and ambulances blocked for several minutes at a time<\/a>\u00a0on Maple Road as trains passed through.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA shot of emergency vehicles being blocked from entering the Maple Crest community in southeast Edmonton.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy \/ Ed de Amaral\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In January 2021, a vehicle on a driveway near 39 Avenue and 6 Street went up in flames while the responding emergency crews were stuck on the other side of a train for about three minutes.<\/p>\n

In the end, from the 911 call being placed to crews arriving on scene, 13 minutes had passed.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the City of Edmonton did look into making upgrades to roads, but council ultimately decided the $11 million price tag was too steep, plus the move could set a precedent since access roads are supposed to be built by developers, not the municipality.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:00
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCity won\u2019t step in to expand access to southeast Edmonton community\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

While residents are glad to see the stop signs removed, they hope it eventually paves the way for a solution that\u2019s not about signs or lights, and addresses the longstanding rail crossing concerns.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGet these alternate routes, because for safety issues, we really need to have alternate access to the neighbourhood,\u201d said Peterson.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The frustration experienced by thousands of residents of a southeast Edmonton neighbourhood reached a boiling point over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752,88102,257536,1890],"class_list":["post-709181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-traffic","tag-maple-crest","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}