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SPECIAL SERIES: Ward 3 council candidates pitch possible solutions to busy roads, speedy drivers

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This is part of a special election series in which the Sault Star will quiz ward council candidates about important issues and publish stories in a series running each Tuesday in both the print product and on www.saultstar.com. Be informed. Cast your ballot on Oct. 24.

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Ward 3 has seen many changes in recent years. Its growth and central location in the city has, some say, created traffic issues, speeding and safety issues for citizens.

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Four candidates are seeking to represent the ward for the next term of municipal government. They include Angela Caputo, Luis Moreno, Kurtis McDermid and Ron Zagordo. Neither of the incumbents are seeking re-election.

Speeding traffic on larger streets such as Pine Street, Black Road and Third Line, have become an issue as motorists use these roads to travel from one end of the city to another. Candidates agree that speeding is a huge safety concern for Ward 3 residents.

“We need to see more stop signs and speed bumps in residential areas to help slow traffic,” said Caputo. “It’s an easy fix to a larger problem, especially on the longer roads where speeding is an issue.”

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Caputo said she’s also received concerns about Pleasant Avenue, both from a traffic volume perspective and with the road graded as a residential route.

“If you can’t reduce traffic on some of these roads, then as a ward councillor, I need to work with the residents and staff to find other solutions,” she said.

Moreno boasts he’s the only candidate who has included the issue in his platform and has a serious action plan to combat speeding.

That plan includes reducing speeds to 30 km/h on all residential streets and implementing a ‘safety by design’ technique where removable speed bumps are installed in spring where high speeds are a problem and then removed for the winter months to allow plows to operate.

He’s also an advocate of designing narrower streets, which, in turn, reduce traffic speeds. “This technique has been implemented in many other cities, including Sudbury and it works. It will also help Sault Ste. Marie reduce the number of accidents and increase safety for all residents.”

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Zagordo said his decisions will be fact-based, and the first step to solve traffic issues is to speak to the traffic department, develop ideas and determine which ones will be the most successful before implementation.

He said while some candidates may suggest reducing speed limits, he counters that solution must be carefully assessed.

“People still need to get around their community. They need to get to work and to school and while human safety and children safety is a number one priority, I’d really need to see proof that reducing speed limits would work,” he said.

Zagordo said he leans toward adding speed bumps on streets that have fast-moving vehicles, similar to those in the Foxborough neighbourhood.

“I know this has been a solution in other communities,” he said.

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He also said Ward 3 residents have suggested a bypass designed for transports to get them off city streets and alleviate traffic congestion. “To my surprise they said they wouldn’t mind that in their backyard if it takes transports off the streets,” he said.

“We need to think outside the box, but we need to look at what has worked in other communities and not reinvent the wheel,” he said.

McDermid said he’s familiar with traffic-calming measures and believes stop signs and speed bumps would make a huge difference on long, straight stretches of roads to reduce speeding.

He agreed with Zagordo that the speed bumps installed in the Foxborough neighbourhood have been effective.

“I think it’s also important that neighbourhoods be designed like Fort Creek, where there are only one or two entrances. That limits motorists from trying to cut through a neighbourhood to get somewhere else,” he said.

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The city has recently created Passchendaele Lane, which is almost ready to open. The road was created to ease traffic congestion on Pine Street and help P-patch residents emerge from their neighbourhoods.

Zagordo said only the future will determine whether the creation of the new roadway will do what it was intended to, and he’s hoping city staff will keep track of its success.

“As a city councillor, I want to ensure that the proper follow-up is done to monitor, evaluate and assess, the results and see if that particular initiative has served the city well,” he said. “That’s the only way we can serve this city well, the retired educator said. “I’m all about being fact based, getting our homework done and finding the information.”

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Moreno said he believes the additional road will help the neighbourhood and help relieve traffic issues on Pine Street.

“We need to look at each intersection individually and analyze the best solution for residents,” he said. “Pine Street is a wide road and it has bike lanes on both sides of the street and with our growing populations, we need to explore ideas and better ways to make traffic flow better.”

McDermid said the city needs to start creating more thoroughfares to move traffic and keep residential neighbourhoods contained to prevent unnecessary traffic.

Caputo said for the most part, she’s been receiving negative views on creating this new ward, especially from those who find a new roadway beside their homes after living there for three decades.

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“As a ward councillor I need to bring these concerns to the table. The issue is safety and it will increase traffic by these homes and by the Maple View Nursing Home.

“I believe we could have done without that road and used different measures of traffic calming rather than spend millions of dollars on a new road,” she said.

The Great Northern Road and Second Line intersection is the busiest in the city. Potential improvements are being studied and candidates have shared their views.

Caputo admits to not being very familiar with all the options the city is examining.

She agrees alternate routes, especially those that take traffic behind Industrial Park, should be fully explored.

“As a business owner I am very good at weighing the situation by looking at all the facts and considering all the opinions and views of others, especially those that future decisions will affect,” she said. “We really need to explore all the options carefully and I’d be happy to weigh in then.”

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Moreno said he’s an advocate of town hall meetings and said presenting various options to the community, and Ward 3 residents, is important.

“Everybody is concerned about speeding and making our roads safer,” he said. “We need to have more consultations and hear more from the residents, especially whom these options will affect.”

Moreno wants to see the Sackville Road extension option revisited and developed so that it will move people away from the city’s busiest intersection, but along an alternate route that will connect to Great Northern Road/Highway 17 North.

McDermid, who lived in London, Ont., for several years, said Sault Ste. Marie’s congestion isn’t nearly as bad as some other southern Ontario cities.

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“I was used to waiting at traffic lights for two or three lights. Now I get that the Sault is different and that the Second Line intersection is the busiest and I think we need to continue to look at ways to redirect traffic in other ways,” he said.

McDermid was hopeful that the widening of Black Road and the Third Line improvements would redirect some traffic away from Second Line, but doesn’t believe it has been successful.

“I’m familiar with the Sackville Road extension option but my fear is that it will mean traffic will move through the Fort Creek subdivision. It’s a potential option we need to look at again,” he said.

Zagordo agrees the intersection is busy and understands the city is examining potential solutions. Examining the possibility of creating a bypass for transport trucks or creating double turn lanes, similar to what Sudbury has created for its busy intersections, should be costed out, he said.

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“I think looking at double turn lanes, which won’t create a big cost to the taxpayer, would be one of my first suggestions,” he said.

Once the initial information is assessed and is tried, Zagordo said, and if it don’t work, then it would be back to the drawing board to examine other more-costly options.

“But it will require homework and monitoring. I say let’s look for the simple solutions first, before we go to something a little more complex,” he said.

Active transportation encompasses all forms of human-powered travel and the city’s plan is seeing some strides in that direction, candidates agree.

They all support the Hub Trail and want to see more spokes added.

“I love the city’s Active Transportation Plan,” said Caputo.

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She said the Sault has seen big spikes in active tourism such as mountain biking, cross-country and downhill skiing, and wants to see the infrastructure for those types of things increased to support both local residents and tourists alike.

“We are a city filled with natural beauty and wonder and I want to capitalize on that,” she said.

Caputo likes the idea of creating a mountain bike park inside the old Sears store at Station Mall, something she read was created elsewhere.

“We have a lot of mountain bikers here in our community and we can support something like this, especially given our long winters. This is something that would help people stay active during those cold months,” she said.

Zagordo said he’s not sure whether the city is doing enough or whether more needs to be done to support the cause, but is proud of the past city council’s work on the Active Transportation Plan.

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“This is one of those good things and I’m proud to see bicycle paths, encouraging people to walk and the work with the Hub Trail,” he said.

“Sure, we can always do more, but this is one of the things our city council has done a good job with.”

Zagordo said more partnerships should be developed between the city and other organizations. For instance, synergies could be created between the city’s transit department and school busing system, creating benefits for both and reducing the number of vehicles on the road, he said.

Moreno said the city’s on the right path with the Active Transportation Plan but it also needs to be mindful spending taxpayer’s dollars.

He wants to encourage more public transportation but understands there are concerns about the bus terminal’s safety and a lack of access to bus passes. He said he believes installing more bus shelters in high-use areas, lowering the cost of transit fares and tweaking routes to make it easier for students, would encourage more transit use and reduce the need for individual vehicles on city streets.

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To develop more spokes to the Hub Trail, Moreno said the city needs to continue to lobby higher levels of government to help pay for the infrastructure that’s needed to do that.

McDermid, an avid cyclist, said he supports more bike lanes and Hub Trail spokes.

“We need to develop more bike lanes on our roads, and we need to have alternatives for cyclists away from our main streets,” he said.

His priority would be creating a north access to avoid Great Northern Road and an access to connect to people in the west-end of the city.

Reducing the city’s transportation carbon footprint is also on the radar for the council candidates.

McDermid said connecting the community with bike lanes and trails would ultimately reduce dependence on vehicles and help alleviate traffic issues.

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“I’m also a fan of the downtown trolley idea. I think that would really reduce the traffic down there and help people move around a lot easier from one end to the other,” he said.

Caputo said that given the Sault’s climate, she’s not sure encouraging the use of bike lanes, ebikes and other non-motorized transportation will get the city to its targets.

“I’d love to see public transportation being improved here, both the quality of our buses and the scheduling of routes,” she said.

Caputo is hopeful that if the city’s bus system was more efficient, it would attract more users, thus reducing greenhouse gases.

“We’re a ‘car-centric’ city and I’m not sure we can change that given our climate and where things are located across town,” she said.

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Zagordo said there needs to be a fine balance created, because residents must be served.

Busing, for instance, is important for many to travel around town, get to jobs and appointments.

“We can’t eliminate this to reduce greenhouse gases. What we do need is a healthy balance that includes encouraging things like using the Hub Trails, walking paths, bicycling to work but we do need to balance that with those who need to use their vehicles,” Zagordo said.

“We need to be a city that works for everybody,” Moreno said. “We need to ensure that everybody can get around. Some people like the bike lanes and others don’t.”

Moreno stresses an all-encompassing approach to reducing the city’s carbon footprint by transportation. It includes lowering speeds, narrowing roads, adding more sidewalks and planting trees along boulevards.

“All these things will reduce our carbon footprint and help the environment, and it also helps reduce accidents and make our streets safer,” he said.

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