Hillier goes to bat for Bayview Heights residents

By Craig Westcott

CBS councillor-at-large Rex Hillier is asking Town staff to investigate traffic concerns in the Bayview Heights area of Kelligrews.

Hillier said a number of residents raised the issue with him during the recent municipal election campaign.
“I was up there and met a lot of people and invariably they got talking about traffic and speed,” said Hillier. “One of their issues was visibility coming out onto Legion Road from Bayview Heights… So, I’m bringing that forward and I’ll ask our staff to take that under advisement and to take a look at it. The issue I think is looking left as you come out of Bayview Heights onto Legion Road.”

A complicating factor is that the intersection is located almost directly across the on and off ramps to Peacekeepers Way, and about halfway between Robert French Memorial Stadium and the CBS Arena, making it a high traffic area.

Mayor Darrin Bent said part of the problem can be attributed to the impatience of some drivers.
“I’m up there at that intersection (the one with Peacekeepers Way) a fair bit, turning sometimes right, sometimes left, coming onto Legion Road, but you can see the issue even on that side of it as well because the view is not great turning left,” Bent said. “Sometimes the traffic is not doing the recommended speed coming up Legion Road, unfortunately, and that makes it a little bit more dangerous.”

Ward 3 councillor Gerard Tilley agreed with the mayor.

“You hit the nail on the head,” Tilley said. “The sight distance is allowable for a 40 kmph speed limit. But the minute that 40 kmph speed limit is broken, then all those things go out the window as well. But hopefully our public works department will look after it.”