Fraser Street residents ask Pembroke council to restore two-way traffic

A group of Fraser Street residents is asking Pembroke council to reverse a 2022 traffic change and return the north end of Fraser Street to two-way traffic.

Wade Wallace, who has lived on the street for about 15 years, made the request during Tuesday night’s council meeting, presenting a petition with 101 signatures from residents supporting the change.

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Wallace told council the group believes the street is wide enough to accommodate traffic travelling in both directions, that hydro poles are not an impediment and that traffic incident data does not support the safety concerns that led to the one-way designation.

“Fraser Street was transformed into a one-way street in 2022 and the vast majority of residents want it to be a two-way street again,” Wallace said. “We are asking city council to return Fraser Street to two-way traffic.”

Wallace said the one-way configuration has created what he described as a false sense of security for motorists and pedestrians.

“If you’re pulling out to any one of these streets and you’re not looking for traffic that’s coming from the south to the north, which gives you the impression that it shouldn’t be coming from that way, but for every five cars that go up, one car comes down,” he said.

Wallace said he regularly watches children crossing the street and believes the one-way configuration can lead them to look in only one direction for traffic.

“I sit at my front door there daily and I see kids crossing the street and they’re only looking one way,” he said. “They’re not looking both ways because they don’t think that traffic is coming down the other way.”

He also raised concerns about winter snow removal and garbage collection, saying snow is pushed to the west side of the street, creating larger snowbanks. With garbage also being placed on that side, Wallace said the combination can reduce the available roadway.

“So now with your garbage, you have a wider snow bank, now your garbage is further into the center of the road.”

Wallace said residents have collected 101 signatures in support of returning the street to two-way traffic adding the signatures came from residents he spoke with personally.

“This is from residents that I’ve talked to at length,” Wallace said. “They put their names, their addresses, and some have even put their telephone numbers down.”

As part of his presentation, Wallace provided council with measurements of the roadway, saying the entrance to Fraser Street is 24 feet wide and the road itself is approximately 20 feet wide.

“We’ve also measured the road. It’s 20 feet wide, which is also within the HTA,” he said. “It’s also standard width for a road of that size.”

Wallace also pointed to other areas of Pembroke where narrow streets and hydro poles coexist with two-way traffic.

He said a traffic mirror already located near Fraser Street could also help improve visibility.

“If there is a blind spot for city staff, that mirror is up there,” Wallace said. “That was designed so that if a plow does come down that road, they will have an extra view of traffic coming from their left.”

Wallace also questioned whether traffic incidents cited when the one-way change was considered accurately reflected a safety problem at the Fraser Street intersection.

“Our traffic report that we got from city staff, once again, thank you, which is in 20 and 2021, which says that there were 10 traffic incidents, but none of them were related to a vehicle coming off Fraser Street going south onto Fraser Street, either right or left,” he said. “There’s no evidence of that unless there’s a report that we’re not aware of. There’s just none.”

Wallace said the city council that approved the one-way configuration in 2021 and 2022 did so unanimously, based on the information available at the time.

“I think it was an interesting pilot project which, I feel strongly in representing the people who signed our petition saying that, we don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said. “We want to see it a two-way again.”

Councillor Ian Kuehl, who was not on council when the change was made, said he was open to reviewing the decision after several years.

“I have significant concerns when I’m getting letters from residents, particularly vulnerable persons that are seniors and people with disabilities that this is making their, literally their day-to-day, life more difficult instead of easier,” Kuehl said.

Kuehl also noted the size of the delegation at Tuesday’s meeting and said he did not want the issue to be carried over to another term of council.

Kuehl moved that city staff prepare a report for the Sept. 15 Operations Committee meeting examining whether Fraser Street should remain one-way or return to two-way traffic. Coun. Andrew Plummer seconded the motion.

“I would move that staff bring us back a report on the 15th of September for us to make a decision as to whether we continue with the one way or that we treat this like a trial project that didn’t work and we make a decision the other way,” Kuehl said.

Plummer thanked Wallace and the residents for bringing the issue forward.

“I think it’s a great example of a citizen-led initiative that people can take back and say, this is how we actually get things done and have council review things,” he said.

Coun. Ed Jacyno said he wants the upcoming staff report to explain why the original decision was made and what council’s position was at the time.

“In the information we’re gonna receive back from staff, I would like it quite clear in the information we’re gonna receive, what the feeling was of the council the day when we made the decision and the reason we made it,” Jacyno said.

He said any change would have to consider the cost to taxpayers.

“But I mean, everything costs money,” Jacyno said. “So if this happens, if council decides to change it again, when your (tax) bill goes up another one per cent, are you going to say to the council of the day who will be coming after us, what are you doing?”

Wallace responded that he did not believe reversing the traffic designation would be a significant expense.

“As far as increasing our taxes goes, I would say, well, you know, you can pull all those signs out of there and maybe recycle them, I suppose, but we don’t see where it’s going to be a cost to take signs out of the intersections down there, and maybe put a line down through the middle,” he said. “I don’t see that being a high cost to taxpayers.”

Mayor Ron Gervais thanked Wallace for bringing the issue forward through the city’s formal delegation process.

“This is the appropriate way to reach out to council and say, ‘Okay, I have a concern’,” Gervais said. “This is what the concern is. Present your argument and then it allows us with this particular motion to get a report.”

Gervais said he expects the staff report to provide council with a detailed history of the issue before a decision is made.

“And so it’ll be a detailed report that I have no doubt will pull everything together so that we can review it and understand what transpired, where we’ve come from,” he said. “And then this council can make a decision based upon that.”

Deputy Mayor Brian Abdallah also said he had personally witnessed a vehicle travelling the wrong way on Fraser Street.

“And ironically, a car came down the wrong way of the street,” Abdallah said. “And I know when Councillor Purcell was there, the same thing happened.”

He said he had also spoken with residents who shared Wallace’s concerns.

“I’ve spoken to some residents in the neighborhood and they’ve expressed the same concerns that you have,” Abdallah said.

The motion to have staff return with a report at the Sept. 15 Operations Committee meeting was approved.

No decision has yet been made on whether Fraser Street will return to two-way traffic. Council will consider the issue once the staff report is presented.