Safety concerns are being raised over an intersection on one of the municipality's most used roadways.
Lifelong resident Blake Vince, who lives north of Fletcher, said he uses the intersection of Queen's Line and Merlin Road on a daily basis. He also said that every day he sees numerous near-collisions.
"As time has progressed and we have a higher population density, that intersection continues to be just a hazard," said Vince. "I describe it as a timebomb waiting to happen. There's going to be a significant traffic incident where people will die."
Vince said the main issue with the intersection, which is located just east of Tilbury, is drivers illegally passing vehicles that are trying to turn left onto Merlin Road from Queen's Line. He said that during the morning and evening commute, it can be virtually impossible to make a turn, calling the intersection a "death trap."
According to Vince, as recently as November 16, he and his family were coming home from Chatham turning left onto Merlin Road from Queen's Line when he said they narrowly missed being in an accident.
"People will try and pass you on the right-hand side where it clearly says do not pass," he explained. "People ignore the road signs that are there and they continue to pass. That's where the concern comes in."
The intersection has come up several times during municipal council meetings. Most recently, area farmers pled with councillors not to close the McDougall Line Bridge, which many of them used as an alternate route to get onto Queen's Line while avoiding the intersection. In November 2018, the Chatham-Kent Transportation Division did a presentation on the traffic concerns in the area, acknowledging that something needed to be done.
According to Chris Thibert, director of engineering and transportation, Chatham-Kent municipal officials are well aware of the concerns at the intersection and addressing them is on their radar. He adds that residents can expect the intersection to come up again for discussion very soon, during the upcoming budget deliberations.
"It was identified as a priority last year in our municipal capital plan. It forms part of the capital budget process that's currently underway right now," said Thibert. "It will be identified as a higher priority capital project subject to council approval and prioritization in January 2020."
Vince said he respects that updates to infrastructure can take time. However, he said its frustrating to see that nothing has been done yet, adding that it can oftentimes feel like residents' concerns aren't being taken seriously by municipal officials.
"I would say if you took a simple poll of people who travel [Queen's Line] on a daily basis, at some point, they would all agree that they have witnessed or experienced, like myself, near misses. They happen on a daily basis. Citizens time and time again have raised concerns to come up with a solution, a workable solution, to try and mitigate the risks," said Vince. "We're tired of it being ignored. It needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed expeditiously."
Vince said he's hoping to see a solution that encourages drivers to slow down while going through the intersection. According to Thibert, the municipality is exploring options to make that happen and improve overall safety in the area.
"It's identified as requiring an intersection traffic control either by a signalized intersection or a roundabout. Those are two things that we're looking at for that intersection as a means of improvement," explained Thibert. "We recognize that its a very problematic intersection, it has been for quite some time. We're happy to present it to council as a high priority. At the end of the day, it's going to be up to council to ensure that it becomes a priority project for either 2020 or 2021."
Although it could be several months before any official solutions are presented, Thibert is reminding drivers to always use caution and obey all the posted road signs at the intersection.
"Just be respectful of the current traffic control that's in place there," he said. "There is no passing on the right, we can't stress that enough. The majority of the accidents that happen there are people just being impatient and passing on the right, not wanting to wait for someone to make that left turn. We recognize that is a constraint there and it's something that we're hoping to prioritize in the near future."