Partial road closure detours ambulance
Residents of the Lacasse Road neighbourhood want to know how long before their road is open to normal traffic again. A partial road closure is now in effect and they are worried about what might happen in case of a house fire or other kind of emergency.
Christine Cyr, a resident in the Ward 5 neighbourhood, raised the issue with Clarence-Rockland city council during its June 5 regular session. She reminded council that the road has been under partial closure for two months now because of serious erosion concerns involving one particular section.
She noted that residents understand they have to put with some inconveniences like rescheduling of school bus pickup and dropoff of their children, limits to local access for traffic, and such. But, she added, the real concern is about emergency service access to the area after a recent incident when a call for the ambulance resulted in a delayed response, because the ambulance unit sent out ended up on a long detour around the roadblock for the closed section. Cyr wondered what might happen if fire trucks tried to respond to a call from the neighbourhood.
“Minutes are the difference between saving a house and home, and losing it,” she said.
Cyr asked when the city expects to have the road fixed and reopened to normal traffic. She also asked about city plans to improve public notice, including proper signage, about partial road closures and to make sure that all emergency crews are aware of such situations when they need to answer calls.
Public Works director Dave Darch told council that the consultant firm Stantec was doing a soil study and geotechnical analysis of the affected road portion, and he expected to have a report ready to present during the June 19 council session.
Darch also expressed puzzlement about the ambulance call response incident to the neighbourhood, adding that department policy is to let emergency services know about any municipal road closures so that unexpected detours do not happen.
“We can look at improving the (closure) signage,” Darch said, in response to a suggestion from mayor Guy Desjardins for posting road closure notices at the Baseline Road intersection with Lacasse Road.
Ward 5 councilor André Lalonde also asked Fire Chief Brian Wilson to make sure that all emergency service agencies are aware of the partial closure of Lacasse Road.