Residents want action on unsafe intersection

North Haven community holding strategy meeting to jumpstart project

Frustrated with a dangerous intersection that’s the only way out of their northwest community, residents in North Haven want the city to fix a growing problem before new development brings even more traffic into their area.

The unusual T-intersection at the northern tip of John Laurie Boulevard, where 48th Avenue N.W. becomes McKnight Boulevard, is becoming increasingly hazardous, community leaders say. The North Haven Community Association is holding an open house April 18, inviting both residents and city transportation staff, in hopes of exploring strategies to improve safety.

“This has been a dangerous intersection for quite some time, and it’s only getting worse,” said Bob Porteous, who is organizing the open house along with the development and review committee at North Haven.

“We had a solution, back in 2005, when 90 per cent of the community agreed to it. But nothing has happened since.

“The project appears to have fallen through the cracks and we want to move it toward the front burner.”

Because McKnight Boulevard westbound onto John Laurie Boulevard southbound is a non-stop, dual left turn, commuters heading eastbound on 48th Avenue out of North Haven are finding it increasingly hazardous to cross the intersection to get out of their community. Some are waiting at the stop sign for as long as 10 minutes waiting for a break in busy dual-turning traffic.

Residents say rush hour in the morning and late afternoon is particularly difficult, especially heading east along 48th Avenue onto McKnight, which is often so backed up it leaves only one or two car lengths available for vehicles that make it through the intersection, increasing the risk for rearend collisions.

Also, pedestrians heading in and out of a small green space on the north edge of the intersection, leading to Nose Hill Park, are also finding it increasingly difficult to cross.

Community leaders recall at least two fatalities at the site in the last decade, as well as several collisions and fender-benders.

Porteous said city council, as far back as 2005, had “approved in principal” a tunnel allowing 48th Avenue N.W. traffic to flow freely underneath John Laurie and McKnight, but no funds have yet been committed to the project.

Although some area homes may have to be purchased by the city to make way for the project, the majority of the community was in favour, Porteous said.

Terry Arnett, civic affairs director for North Haven CA, also agreed that would still be the best option, although funding for the work is not in the city’s Investing in Mobility Plan spanning 20152024.

“The intersection is quite dangerous from all directions, but especially for through traffic,” Arnett said. “It has become quite a high-speed area that’s difficult to get through.”

Arnett adds that a residential de- velopment proposed for the former Highwood Golf Course site, as well as planned transit-oriented development along Centre Street’s Green Line LRT, could bring as much as three times the existing traffic into the area over the next several years.

Naveed Butt, manager of design and transportation planning with the City of Calgary, agreed the tunnel project had been approved as part of an overall traffic corridor study for the area, but the intersection hasn’t yet met enough criteria to receive the $16 to $20 million required to build it.

The city has a long list of projects that are approved every year, Butt explained, all of which meet specific criteria made up of complex factors like collision rates and traffic volumes. But the John Laurie-McKnight location is not above average for collision rates, he added.

However, the city is willing to look at a number of short term options in hopes of appeasing community concerns.

“We are very willing to keep working with the community. We will be at the open house, to look at what other options there might be here.”

Longtime resident Ron Wood says the intersection has become too busy and he worries about young families rushing through the area in their morning and afternoon commutes.

“There was a time when we used to ride our horses through here,” laughed Wood, whose family has lived in the area since 1978.

“But now it’s become very busy, especially with all the development in the north. It’s become very difficult to get through that intersection.

“There are times ... when I’ve waited up to 10 minutes to get through.”

The community’s open house is scheduled for April 18 between 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the North Haven community hall, 5003 North Haven Dr. N.W.