Road construction causing traffic troubles near elementary school

Much-needed improvements are underway on Ottawa Street South in Kitchener, with the major project including the installation of a roundabout at Ottawa and Westmount Road.

To facilitate that, Ottawa Street has been closed between Westmount and Howland Drive and a detour set-up taking vehicles from Strasburg Road to Block Line, then back to Westmount.

But, much like how life finds a way, drivers have found a shortcut.

That shortcut is Howland to Laurentian Drive and back onto Westmount, right past Trillium Public School. Along with the increased volume of traffic there is also the speed at which that traffic is moving. The speed limit on Laurentian Drive is 30 km/h.

Amanda Walker has been leading the push to get some kind of traffic calming measures in place. She told The Mike Farwell Show, the most dangerous times of day are at student drop-off in the morning and pick-up in the afternoon.

“Everybody is taking this kind-of shortcut and not following the detour and traffic is at a stop, backed up. When we have larger vehicles coming through, it actually makes it become a one-way at pick-up and drop-off times. Which is also making the traffic back-up even further. It’s putting our students at risk.”

Walker said she reached out the City of Kitchener in hopes of getting a crossing guard for the area. She was told the Waterloo Region District School Board had requested a crossing guard, but there was a lack of staff.

She tried contacting Waterloo regional police to see if there was something they could do.

“We got one patrol that came out, put their lights on. We were super thrilled. We went and discussed the issues, and it didn’t change the traffic flow, but it slowed the traffic flow. ” She said, adding, “It made a huge impact, and then a week went by and nobody else came out.”

Walker said she reached out to police again, “I was told that patrol will only come out if they are in the area and only if there isn’t a call more important than this.”

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Walker said she feels like they are at the low end of the priority list, and that’s discouraging.

Her next move was to then contact the Region of Waterloo which is undertaking the road project, and see if there was something it could do about the detour. She said after a couple of emails, she was told by the region that it was waiting to hear back from the transportation department.

In an email to 570 NewsRadio, the region stated that it would be placing additional signage at Ottawa Street and Howland Drive, as well as Westmount and Laurentian, to discourage people from taking the shortcut.

Walker also expressed her dismay at the number of school buses she has seen using the shortcut. She reached out to Student Transportation Services Waterloo Region (STSWR) to find out if drivers were required to abide by local detours. She said the response was that bus drivers are permitted to take the fastest route possible.

570 NewsRadio reached out to STSWR and in a statement the agency said, “Depending on several factors,  at times it is difficult to follow the detour route based on the next stop. Congestion is always a concern for a safety perspective, but it is something we face everyday around schools.”

The statement went on to say: “In this instance we are reviewing alternative routes with the bus company to try to avoid this specific issue however, other constraints like timing for the next runs may limit options.”

The region says the construction is expected to wrap-up in July. The last day of school at WRDSB schools is June 25.