Now that the Province has suddenly reminded us about their South Perimeter Highway safety improvements, it behooves us to re-examine their old plans for the St. Anne’s/Perimeter Highway area. A simple plan it is not.
The Province had all the subtlety of a chainsaw when it recently cut down most of the forest at St. Mary’s Road and the Perimeter. Traffic engineers all sound like they are on the spectrum when they dispassionately discuss ripping up your community. Best to close your eyes and count to five. Then look at the plans again.
Here is the overview. It shows a new overpass over the Perimeter Highway. Qualico is already planning a new housing subdivision south of the Perimeter. I like to call it River Park South South. (Yes, spell check, I did use the same word twice.)
The City already plans to twin St. Anne’s Road from Aldgate Road to Creek Bend Road in 2028. Expect some traffic delays for the next five years after that.
The Province officially loves traffic circles now, so I brutally cut and pasted their St. Mary’s Road traffic circle onto St. Anne’s Road. I know, it’s ugly.
The combination Seine River diversion/AT pathway/nature corridor UNDER the new 7 to 9 traffic lanes of the Perimeter Highway is shown. This old map does not show the recently installed gravel parking lot, I mean “pad or staging area”. The Province evidently does not remember digging out a paddling launch ramp in the riverbank at the site or discussing environmental offsets like a parking lot with Save Our Seine.
The surprising extension of Sioux Road West under the second Perimeter Highway overpass at the railway crossing to join up with Sumka Road to the south is shown. This road will be a major entrance to Qualico’s new Sumka Lands acquisition. Notice how much farther the roadway is from the centre of the rail line. This validates the theory that the existing Sioux Road West is built way too close to the active CPKC Emerson line. (No future Sumka Bridge over the Seine is shown either, but that is a fight for a future day.)
Anyway, this is all happening in the next few years. The Creek Bend community has already had to deal with disappearing developers, wayward politicians and urban sprawl in every direction. Thank heavens we have quiet river-paths and a gentle river like the Seine to help us to keep our balance and perspective.