Puslinch councillor Wayne Stokley believes council should spend more time on a number of issues here.
He said Oct. 19 that some were at least partly addressed at a prior council session, but there are still issues relating to the community forum.
“We need to spend a little more time on them. I think we would be remiss if we did not address them and continue the discussion.”
First is the railway crossing at Hume Road. It also affects the crossing in Arkell as well, Stokley said.
“There was a concern brought forward by a resident on the safety.”
Some suggestions were signals to stop traffic, or even installing a gate to halt it.
He noted a survey was done of the Hume Road crossing two years ago, and he wanted to get an opinion how council feels about the issue.
Stokley said he would like to talk to roads superintended Don Creed to get his opinion.
Stokley cited a coming roads tour in November and asked if the area should be one of the sites visited “just to see for ourselves.”
If a survey is being considered, that it would need to be part of next year’s budget rather than the current one.
Mayor Dennis Lever asked chief administrative officer Brenda Law if the roads superintendent was approached on the issue – other than determining the costs for a survey.
Tom Sagaskie, of the Guelph Junction Railway, was emailed, but Law did not know if anyone had contacted Sagaskie directly.
Lever said there are actually three crossings to consider – Hume, Watson and Arkell Roads.
“I think its a good idea to take a look at it at the roads tour as well,” Lever added.
“It could be a certainly be a substantial amount of money and require budget allocations.”
Councillor Ken Roth added there is also a crossing at Maltby Road and County Road 34.
But he added, “The sight lines at Watson Road in my opinion, are the worst sight lines of any of them.”
He said there is more traffic than on Hume Road.
One option would be to request the weeds and bushes be trimmed to improve the sight lines.
He said there are lights at County Road 34 and Arkell Road, and they have the best sight lines of any road “so this is strictly related to traffic … so the chance of getting lights or barriers at Hume Road are slim to nil.”
As a result, Roth did not see the need to spend a lot of time on a survey.
But he still believes a cleanup of weeds and brush at the intersections would be a good idea to make the crossings more visible.
“If it is our responsibility, then we should do it.”
Lever maintained the crossing at Watson should be looked at “because there is a fair amount of traffic.”
He said this is certainly an issue to bring up at the coming road tour.
