Balgonie resident protests removal of Main Street access to Highway 1

A resident from Balgonie parked his truck in a construction zone Thursday morning, protesting the permanent removal of the town’s access to Main Street from Highway 1.

Edwards has been leading the charge against the closure of Balgonie’s Main Street access to Highway 1, ever since the Ministry of Highways closed it last September.

“All we’re asking the Ministry of Highways is to give us more time to come up with a solution they’ll agree to,” Edwards said. “They gave us four months in the dead of winter to come up with a design which is impractical.”

A high collision rate at the access point spurred the construction of a new overpass just west of the town, which opened last July.

In the 12 years before the bypass was built, SGI said there had been 13 collisions and two fatalities at the intersection.

Edwards agrees there are safety concerns for traffic turning onto the highway, but not for drivers turning onto Main Street.

“From here to the number 10 off ramp is approximately 700 meters, we feel there is more than sufficient room to have a safe deceleration lane in to town,” he explained. “We’re asking just for a right-in just to keep our businesses alive here.”

The Town of Balgonie recently released a statement saying in part, “Traffic has been unable to use this entrance and exit for several months and there has been a negative impact to the town’s local businesses.”

Bob Machmaik owns Colleen’s Diner located right off the access point and said although they’re doing their best to keep the diner busy, it doesn’t help if drivers can’t easily access their business.

“If 500 vehicles go by here in a day and just one of them stops in a whole day, that represents quite a bit of business to us,” Machmaik said. “Now they have to go all the way up and around, so they don’t always stop.”

The town also addressed challenges for emergency services saying an agreement was signed with the province in November 2017 and there will be locked emergency access at Highway 1 east of Main Street for emergency use.

The Ministry of Highways maintains the closure is all about safety, but Highways Critic Buckley Belanger said there could have been another option.

“As a result of all the discussions we’ve had with independent engineers, our own engineers, this is all about safety and that access had to come out,” Highways Minister, David Marit said.

Edwards said no matter what, he’s going to continue the fight, no matter how long it takes.

“This is what our town needs- is a safe way to get into town,” he said. “We’ve had one for years and we don’t understand why they want to tear it out.”