Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Speed kills when it comes to saving swale

- PHIL TANK ptank@postmedia.com twitter.com/thinktanks­k

One of the first acts of the current Saskatoon city council was passing the 2017 budget that included $1.5 million to preserve and enhance the Northeast Swale.

That’s your money going to try to protect the sensitive ecological area, so Saskatoon taxpayers might now wonder whether this was a sound investment.

Council voted last week — by a 6-5 margin — to raise the speed limit on roads that connect to the Chief Mistawasis Bridge to 60 km/h from 50.

Two stretches of these roads slice through the swale.

Will an increase of 10 km/h make a difference for wildlife and motorist safety?

Unless they’ve slept through meetings, all council members know those 10km/h increments make a huge difference. They heard all about it two years ago when they discussed adopting Vision Zero principles, which advocate for lower speed limits on residentia­l streets.

In October 2018, council unanimousl­y approved a motion to embrace Vision Zero principles, which aim to reduce traffic-related injuries and deaths through active measures. In hindsight, it’s laughable.

At that same meeting, council split 6-5 again on approving a study to reduce speed limits on residentia­l streets. That study, convenient­ly, won’t be ready until next year, after the November municipal election.

A month earlier, with a mere week before the opening of the new northeast bridge on Oct. 2, 2018, council finally settled on the speed limit for the bridge and the roads connecting to it.

Council opted to increase the speed limit west of the swale to 70 km/h and leave the roads through the swale, including Mcormond Drive, at 50km/h.

Or so we thought.

Then came a report a year after the bridge opened, showing lower than expected numbers of motorists: 9,900 a day instead of the predicted 14,600 to 21,700.

The Chief Mistawasis Bridge cost $211.4 million to build as part of a constructi­on and maintenanc­e project with a price tag close to $500 million.

The amount spent on the swale is a pittance by comparison, so there’s probably no contest in terms of which spending council will try to frame as a good investment.

But the remote location of the new bridge means it will only be used by a small minority of residents, although the span was planned with the future in mind.

Even in its underwhelm­ing first year, the bridge slashed the number of daily vehicles on the nearby Circle Drive Bridge by 9,800.

The swale, however, is an irreplacea­ble amenity for everyone in the city. The biodiverse area is used as a selling point for real estate in adjacent neighbourh­oods.

Perhaps the swale was doomed, regardless of speed limits, given the initial decision to build a commuter road through it.

The Saskatoon Freeway is a provincial megaprojec­t that, once built, will cut another swath through the swale about a kilometre north of Mcormond.

The city also has long-term plans to develop the area west of the swale, after adding neighbourh­oods east of it.

That’s not exactly a welcome mat for wildlife or nature lovers, despite the dogged efforts of the Northeast Swale Watchers.

And who’s charged with trying to defend this increasing­ly rare stretch of native prairie habitat? The underfunde­d and overwhelme­d Meewasin Valley Authority was contracted by city hall to try to conserve the area.

Two councillor­s who voted to hike the speed limit, Bev Dubois and Zach Jeffries, sit on the MVA board, which should make for some uncomforta­ble meetings.

Jeffries even posted an online petition in favour of the higher speed limits — interestin­g for the same guy who championed the use of speed humps to slow traffic in Saskatoon.

MVA board chair Colin Tennent wrote to council, along with about 50 other people, advocating for maintainin­g the speed limits. Tennent called the swale an example of one of the planet’s “most imperilled ecosystems.”

Does council want to protect the swale? Do these politician­s care when residents write to them? Does city hall want vehicles going faster, or slower?

If you’re baffled, you’re not alone.

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