John Labuick addresses members of council

Saying they were never called, visited or consulted in any way until after they heard about it on the news two weeks ago, businesses from around the East Service Road protested proposed changes to a major intersection at Moose Jaw City Hall Monday night.

The group says the proposed elimination of the intersection with Thatcher Drive East will cause them hardship and they have a lawyer to fight on their behalf.  Greg Murphy out of Regina spoke to council, saying a lawsuit is possible if changes go ahead.

"If this plan goes forward, there will be a loss in property values." claimed Murphy. "That's going to cost the city in two ways. One, in claims for injurious affection by the persons affected but secondly, as property values go down, the tax base goes down and there's a loss in tax revenue as well."

The plan announced at the start of the month was to remove the traffic lights north of the Hillcrest Golf Course and close off that intersection by extending a concrete median to the Superstore/Peavey Mart traffic lights. To help increase westbound traffic flow, a dual left hand turning lane onto Main Street Southbound was included.

Due to the proposals, all northbound and eastbound traffic looking to access the East Service Road would have to travel north to Diefenbaker Drive, by the Western Development Museum, then travel back south to their destination. Westbound traffic could still turn right onto the service road by Bonanza but they would not be able to turn south in order to access the golf course.  They would have to drive north on the service road, then use Diefenbaker Drive to access Main Street, travel back south and then east towards the entrance to the Hillcrest.

John LaBuick is an owner from the area and says the plans will keep people from stopping at businesses on the service road and will be detrimental.

"We ask that you re-assess this and give us the opportunity to work with your Engineer's Department to develop a plan to make it work, be safe and keep this intersection and the businesses up there viable."

That was the overall feeling of the meeting, a lack of, or complete absence of communication from the city.  Many owners said they didn't even know changes were proposed until they heard it on the news or on social media. During the initial meeting to let councillors know about the changes, it was revealed that only the golf course was contacted and some councillors questioned why businesses were not part of the process.

Regardless of the process, Moose Jaw Police Corporal Blair Bucsis says something needs to be done. It's a dangerous combination of two intersections that local officers respond to on a routine basis.

"In a ten year period at Main and Thatcher, we had 76 accidents of which SGI says that we've had 84 injuries... the average accident is $10,000 and you've got $840,000 just in property damage alone." said Bucsis.

According to a report from SGI that was included in the documents presented to councillors, numbers show the Service Road intersection is five times more likely to see a collision than the Main Street intersection. The report explained that on a "Collisions Per Million Entering" basis, there are 1.24 accidents per million at Main and Thatcher, while the number spikes to 6.9 accidents per million vehicles at the East Service Road intersection.

The report to council also highlighted the fact the pair of intersections don't follow safety standards since they are 50 metres apart, rather than the suggested 200 metre guideline. The document also pointed out that when the intersection was originally designed, a median was included and subsequent studies have all suggested that a median is the best solution to the traffic snarl caused by the high volume of vehicles passing through the area, a problem that administration believes will get worse because of the new regional hospital.

After hearing both sides of the debate, councillors adopted a new design that will include the original plan, much to the chagrin of those in attendance and many muttered insults as they left council chambers. In addition to the median and second turning lane, there will be a dedicated U-turn lane in front of Superstore plus a Main Street access point, north of Thatcher Drive near Dairy Queen.  The total cost of the project has ballooned from $300,000 to $465,000 as a result.