Re. 781 and Hwy. 11 closure: For the last several weeks I have waited to see how the right-in-right-out solution at Hwy. 11 and 781 would work. Frankly it is a nightmare and more accidents waiting to happen. Instead of one dangerous intersection now we have three or four;
l Hwy. 20, no left turn arrow at the lights.
l RR 15 on to Hwy 11.
l Left turn off Hwy 20 onto Memorial — a suicide corner.
l Memorial Drive onto 50th Street.
Before this snap decision by Luke Ouellette and the Department of Transportation was made, some of these issues should have been dealt with.
Temporary Solution: Put the intersection back the way it has been for years and install “temporary lights” until the issue above is dealt with.
Long term solution: Town council is getting a lot of heat and abuse for accepting the offer of $4.5 million to build a road that will do nothing to improve the problems on Hwy 11.
However, Mr. Ouellette, if you have $4.5 million for a road we do not need, could you not find $5 million or $6 million to extend the eastbound lanes of Hwy 11 west across 781 and RR15?
This would benefit thousands upon thousands of motorists on Hwy 11 every day.
I believe a lot of people think this problem on Hwy 11 affects only the residents of Sylvan Lake. This situation affects everyone who travels Hwy 11 from Red Deer to Rocky Mountain House.
The two lanes from Sylvan Lake west to Rocky are not able to handle the volume of traffic that uses this road in a safe manner. Loss of life has occurred west of Sylvan Lake far too frequently. Please let the minister of Transportation hear your concerns all you people of the west country.
Dale Mannix
Sylvan Lake