ST. PAUL - After years of attending serious and fatal motor vehicle collisions at the intersection of Hwy 881 (south) and Hwy 646, Trevor Kotowich says he's now "pleading" for a review of the intersection.
Kotowich, who is the fire chief for the St. Paul Fire Department, along with being the Regional Director of Emergency Management for the area, spoke to County of St. Paul council during the July 13 council meeting.
While Kotowich said he has reached out to Alberta Transportation with his concerns, he feels as though he is getting the "run around" from the provincial department.
Kotowich said he has personally been to dozens of incidents at the intersection, including at least five fatalities. He has also had to make some of the very difficult calls to next of kin after fatal motor vehicle collisions. He said he cannot continue to sit by and watch as collisions continue to occur, and acknowledged how there have been many "near misses" at the intersection also.
"We owe it to not only the citizens of the County of St. Paul and area, but to all Albertans who travel through this area on a daily basis to try and find a solution," said Kotowich.
"I consider myself a solutions-based person... but I don't know what the solution is," he conceded. He noted that he feels as though he has hit a brick wall with trying to access statistics from Alberta Transportation.
Kotowich said he isn't naive, and understands the intersection won't be fixed overnight, but said he will continue to push for change.
He also acknowledged that many of the issues seen at the intersection are the result of "driver habit, and we can't legislate that."
Reeve Steve Upham said he felt part of the issue was that the point of vision is distorted at the intersection. He also felt that it likely isn't a "big fix" to change the intersection.
CAO Sheila Kitz said she has been working to get information about the specific intersection for at least a year now, and understand that a safety review of the intersection has been done. Those results had not yet been made available to the municipality, as of the July 13 council meeting.
Kitz said it was just a week ago that she had last reached out, and said she would contact the provincial government again for an update.
Council agreed to submit a letter of concern to the Minister of Transportation Rajan Sawhney, who was just appointed to the ministerial position on July 8 following a cabinet shuffle by Premier Jason Kenney. The letter will also be directed to MLA David Hanson.
