Police ticketing vehicles that ignore road closures at bridge closure
Police have started handing out $110 tickets to motorists who use Old Norwood Road, Maniece Avenue and MacFarlane Avenue — all closed while the nearby Warsaw Swing Bridge gets replaced.
In a decision made by city staff, the three roads were closed to through traffic at the start of October when the bridge on Parkhill Road East was closed by the Trent-Severn Waterway for replacement, which is expected to take about eight months.
City staff have said the swing bridge takes10,000 vehicles daily and that Old Norwood Road, Maniece Avenue and MacFarlane Avenue cannot handle that traffic safely.
In the first few days following the road closures, Peterborough Police handed out more than 600 notices to motorists who were using the closed roads.
“We were trying to educate them,” said city police Chief Scott Gilbert at the Peterborough Police Services Board meeting on Tuesday. “And since that time, there has been an enforcement phase both with us and Peterborough County OPP.”
Gilbert didn’t say how many tickets have been handed out.
Police have been following vehicles that used the closed roads to ensure they’re going home or to drop something off at someone’s house, for instance.
“When they do exit the closure area — that’s when a traffic stop has generally been initiated,” he said.
“Obviously, officers do have discretion to issue a ticket or a warning — or doing further education. Although in some cases officers are issuing tickets.”
Peterborough County council is also unhappy, and this week sent a letter to city council asking them to reopen the closed residential streets because the decision to close was made with no consultation with the county or neighbouring townships.
Coun. Gary Baldwin, whose Ashburnham Ward includes the closed residential streets, is also the police board chair. He noted at the meeting on Tuesday that the city has no control over the bridge replacement.
“It’s not a city project, unfortunately — it’s a Parks Canada project,” he said. “No one would have wanted this, but it’s a reality.”
The other councillor in Ashburnham Ward, Keith Riel, told The Examiner he thinks perhaps a city police officer could be used to direct traffic along the residential streets at peak times rather than close the streets.