@Kathy Moore and city council, Monita One way traffic...Again

The city needs to address this before there's an accident.  In additon to several vehicles a day driving excessively fast up the Monita one way street between Le Roi and Columbia (are people driving recklessly fast up a one way street so they don't get caught by our non-existant bylaw officers?) in the past 3 days I have seen the following heading up the one way street:

-several Copcan trucks, c'mon, paid by the hour take the extra 30 seconds to drive around, yes they're working to improve infrastructure of the city but they are guests here and should respect the community

-(2) Copcan front end loaders, these things are huge and shouldn't be driving around during peak traffic hours anyways, especially in a neighborhood full of young children, the one I saw this morning actually stopped on the bottom of the hill to let another vehiclce come down then proceded to continue up the one way, and then was immediately followed by another Copcan vehicle

-30 foot moving truck from City furniture and appliance

-Apline recycling truck that had to stop haf way up the way, back down part way into my driveway, then continue up the hill once the vehicle has passed

-truck pulling a 30 foot RV trailer

-Truck pulling a full size wakeboard boat

No to mention there's a full size dump truck heading down the hill at least once an hour.  

So I don't have kids or pets but I would like to point out that there's 6 kids living within one block of this street, ages ranging from 3-12, who all at some point in time use the street, I've seen the three year old using his push bike on the street in question. The large amount of people with dogs using the alley way to cross the road, and numerous kids as well, I also see more than a few people pushing kids in strollers up and down the hill several times a day.  Yes, I like to rant on here about small town politics but this has gone beyond a crotchety local complaining because I've got nothing better to do, this is a safety issue involving young children, and it's the city's responsibility to address it.

Yes, I recently encountered 1 car, 1 truck and one motorcycle all going the wrong way up the one way street on Monita. Coincidently I had a meeting with an RCMP officer on their annual service plan and traffic was one of the areas of concern that we discussed. We are lucky that traffic issues, particularly speeding (but now idiotic wrong way driving) are our biggest problems in Rossland. Other cities have so many other horrid problems. In addition to the Monita street situation I spoke to the officer about chronic problems on Thompson, trucks and speeding on Washington and some issues heading out of town on lower Spokane. The RCMP has since been up to look for violators. In addition, on Friday I spoke with our Chief Admin officer about putting up some sort of barricade on 1/2 the lane at Monita and Leroi. We can try our best but its very hard to instill intelligence if people aren't born with it.

I think what is being overlooked here is that this traffic issue is the result of temporary construction. Drivers are getting creative in their route finding and are unknowingly  risking public safety. Pardon my assumption if this happens outside construction season.  Seems like you could have some decent grounds to make it the responsibility of the contractor to improve the situation at no extra cost. MMCD may have something to stand on.

There really isn't much of an issue with excessive traffic and speed up the one way street nomrally, the odd person here or there.  This issue is a result of the construction on Le Roi and Davis.  My feelings are that because of municipal infrstructure upgrades, there's the issue in question.  Therefor dealing with this specific issue really shouldn't invovle the anuual service plan with the RCMP, becuase once construction is finished, there's no problem.  I also feel that this isn't the responsibity of Copcan, unless it's part of their original contract.  They're here to upgrade Le Roi and Davis, not to provide traffic solutions in another part of town (even though it's only 2 blocks away) that's a result of the work they've been hired to do, it's also not their responsibility to sort out access routes for equipment.  This responsibity should fall to the municipality that hires them.  However, it is their responsibility to follow local traffic rules and municipal bylaws, and they should by no means be taking heaving equipment up a one way street (I've also seen the steam roller compactor go up the one way).  I think it would be acceptable for a representative from the city make sure Copcan understands that they need to follow local traffic rules and should really know better than to take heavy equipment up a one way street in a residential neighborhood.  The barricades at the bottom of the hill would probably help but not elimante the issue, ultimately most people won't change behaivoir unless it affects them directly, as in being ticketed.

what about a one way spike strip at the bottom.  I've almost been hit countless times now by people going the wrong way up there.

Well, that was easy....

Copcan management has been told about the violations and has promised to handle it with all of their drivers. The RCMP annual service plan does not include this issue, it was just a coincidence that I was speaking with the officer about the plan and brought up the more immediate issue. City staff will put a barrier at the bottom of Monita. There has to be some responsibility taken by drivers, being creative or not, going the wrong way up a one way street is a bad idea under any circumstances. Understanding signage and following the rules is a requirement of being a licensed driver. 

 

Thank you, I have noticed that the Copcan vehicles have stopped going up the one way and are also driving slower through the neighborhood, and I also appreciate the barrier at the bottom of the hill.

Thanks to public works for putting up the barricade and a sign reinforcing the fact that Monita is a one way street for this one tiny block. Hopefully everyone will respect it. I don't know who set up the camera on the tripod, but I thought that was a nice, clever touch! :)

 

 

I tried to get to Thompson Ave yesterday from the highway (Columbia Ave.) but got chewed out by a very rude woman who was driving up from Lower Columba Ave.  She informed in the rudest manner that I cannot do a right turn onto Lower Columbia from the highway.   Being that Le Roi is blocked, to get to Thompson or Victoria Ave. from the highway, I would need to either go all the way through Rossland and part way down the hill to do a legal right turn, onto Thompson or drive into town, do a left onto Le Roi, go down 1st Ave, a right onto Washington then a right onto Columbia so I can do alegal left to enter lower Columbia.   I don't like to be a whiner, but goodness, can't people be a bit more considerate and compensating when the access streets are under contruction and blocked off?

If you're coming down the highway from the gas station/museum direction, simply pull over to the right onto the shoulder ahead of the the stop sign facing west onto lower columbia, then do a u-turn to head back down lower columbia into lower Rossland.  This has been the acceptable way to access lower Columbia ave from the highway since the "no right turn" sign went up some 20 years ago.

I got  supreme crap yesterday from a very rude woman who sarcastically informed me that a U turn from the highway onto Lower Columbia is illegal.   Cooperation and consideration seems to be a thing of the past.

@ Dstrelioff ;  I am sorry for not reading your comment properly.  When I approached Lower Columbia yesterday there was a truck and couple of pick ups parked in the space you refer to.  I just took a wide turn to do the U turn onto lower Columbia.  The woman who stopped me was not interferred with in any way when I made the turn; however, she flagged me down and gave me the old what for because I made the turn from the highway.