Last Friday's incident involving a semi that collided with a power pole at the corner of 11th Avenue and 100th Street sparked discussion Monday night at council about signs directing truck traffic in the city.
At issue was whether there is proper signage to divert large-scale truck traffic away from that notorious intersection, which has seen numerous incidents involving large trucks crashing into poles there over the years.
Councillor Trent Houk raised the issue during the inquiries section of the meeting. He noted he drove through the intersection to investigate and expressed concerns particularly about truck traffic heading from the north to Highway 16.
"Maybe we should look at, and some of this may be via highways, ample signage to direct these trucks when they're coming from the north that they turn right at Tim Hortons to connect," said Houk, referring to the right turn at Territorial Drive that allows trucks to drive down and connect to Highway 16.
"Unless you're coming from Saskatoon, I don't think the signage is there directing properly," Houk added.
He expressed his desire to see no repeat of the Friday incident that also cut off power in that area. "You start dropping high-voltage power lines on things, people start dying real quick."
While Houk initially expressed concern about truck traffic from the north, an explanation from city clerk Debbie Wohlberg about what happened Friday raised concerns about traffic from Saskatoon as well.
Wohlberg explained that in conversations with bylaw officials, the truck involved in the collision had actually come in from the Saskatoon route and had missed the Highway 16 bypass (near the Gold Eagle Casino), and instead tried to make a left-hand turn at the 11th Avenue intersection.
Houk suggested putting some signs up at Railway Ave at the intersection with Battleford Road (McDonalds/Fountain Tire) for those instances when people do miss the bypass so they could turn there and get back on that route en route to their destination.
