Sidewalk ‘step in the right direction’ for pedestrians navigating Bayers Lake

A new sidewalk will soon branch off Chain Lake Drive in Bayer’s Lake, connecting pedestrians with Walmart and Superstore among other businesses.

A multitude of big box retailers, heavy traffic and limited pedestrian infrastructure makes getting around the business park challenging, if not dangerous.

There’s also the access roads that branch off the main drive — most of which do not have sidewalks.

For transit user Eva Kabbabe, the lack of sidewalks is appalling.

“It’s not safe. I mean yes, you can walk over the grass…but it’s uneven and it’s on a slope and it’s not really something older people can do,” Kabbabe said.

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Pedestrian safety advocate, Martyn Williams, agrees.

“I mean, there are sidewalks along the main stretch,” Williams said. “Coming off, going towards the stores, you’ve got absolutely nothing.

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“I see a lot of families with strollers with young kids in them. Elderly people using walkers — and it’s very dangerous, so that’s what I’ve been focusing on, to try to get a sidewalk here.”

And Williams has been successful in his advocacy.

Choice Properties, which owns several lots off Chain Lake Drive, told him on Monday evening that the company plans to add a sidewalk to the access road leading to Walmart and Superstore.

In a statement to Global News, the company says it is “exploring enhancements to pedestrian infrastructure at the property based on community feedback.”

But for Kabbabe, this new sidewalk is just the beginning.

Williams says he’s relieved to see plans in the works for one dangerous stretch of road, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

“I don’t know the position with the other access roads, and there are ones at Costco and there are ones in the other direction,” Williams says. “There’s also municipal bus stops in Bayers Lake that have no connecting sidewalks, so there is a huge amount.”

The new sidewalk is expected to be installed this fall, but Williams is concerned about safety in the meantime.

“When I kind of started this communication a long time ago, they were concerned that if they put temporary barriers up, they would scratch cars,” he said.

“It’s something that unfortunately needs to be said, that it’s much more important that people are safe.”