SALEM – A hairpin turn at Geddes Street and James Street in Salem, combined with an increase in truck traffic, is causing concern for residents.
About a dozen people gathered at the intersection on July 19 to air their grievances.
“It’s never been like this before,” said Paul Whitaker, whose house fronts onto James Street and backs onto Geddes, giving him a bird’s eye view of the intersection from his home.
“We have usual traffic and that’s okay. But the constant trucks, the constant noise, the constant flying down the road…,” said Whitaker.
“I’ve seen several near misses. We need to do something preventative right now, before something terrible happens.”
Wellington County councillor Mary Lloyd and Centre Wellington councillor Ian MacRae attended and took notes as residents spoke.
Geddes Street is also Wellington Road 18, while James Street belongs to Centre Wellington Township.
“This issue is trying to balance traffic here, but this is unacceptable,” Lloyd said. “This is very dangerous.”
In a span of about 30 minutes, at least a dozen dump trucks and tractor trailers could be seen making the turn.
Those trying to turn right onto Geddes from James had to inch into the intersection to see if it was clear as it is a blind corner.
Those turning left onto James from Geddes had the most difficulty. Even with a wide turn, a tractor-trailer blocked both northbound and southbound lanes of James Street in making the corner.
And many times, trucks had to back up to make the turn while trucks coming south on James Street had to stop half-way up the hill to allow other vehicles to make this manoeuvre.
This tractor trailer just made a left turn from Geddes Street onto James Street in Salem and is occupying both the north and southbound lanes to do so. Photo by Joanne Shuttleworth
Lloyd noted that last year the bridge on Geddes Street just north of the intersection had a load restriction. Truck traffic has ballooned since the restrictions were removed, she said.
Just around the corner from James Street is Salem Public School, which adds to the safety concerns.
“It’s the noise, the safety for kids, and the speed I’m worried about,” said local resident Fraser Boyle.
Lloyd said she’s sent information to the chair of the county’s roads committee and to the county engineer and expects a traffic count and analysis will have to take place before solutions can be found.
“We need trucks, there’s no question, but we also need to remember that public safety is utmost,” she said.
MacRae said he thinks many of the gravel trucks heading through the area are on route to the Sorbara and Keating subdivisions currently under construction.
He thought an alternate route might be for trucks to turn onto Sideroad 10, just north of Salem and then south on Gerrie Road to the construction sites, avoiding Salem altogether.
“I’ll reach out to staff and ask for suggestions,” MacRae said.
“It’s a unique situation. Many of the gravel trucks are related to construction. There are few other roads they can take.
“It’s tough to know what to do. It’s a crazy corner to begin with.”
Later in the day the township issued a notice that it had reached out to Sorbara’s contractor, who confirmed that approximately 40 trucks were using this route per day as part of its earthworks project.
“By bringing this to their attention, they immediately agreed to reduce their fleet to 15 trucks per day starting tomorrow (July 20), and anticipate that they will complete this portion of the earthworks phase by the end of the week,” communications manager Kendra Martin stated in an email.
“Staff will continue to work with the contractor to come up with an alternate route for their subsequent phases of development.”
