Editor:
In lieu of Silvio Adamo’s recent letter in the Jan. 18 Outlook claiming public safety should not be considered with the issue of the pedestrian zone, it is time to relate a real incident that had a lot to do with public safety.
When the compound meadows prescribed burn got out of control last May, we were on our way to Canmore via Banff Avenue. Suddenly, sirens were wailing behind us. I pulled over into the lay-by lane in front of what is now the Hotel Canoe and Suites. Other vehicles were also pulled over, leaving the one exit lane open for emergency vehicles.
As the siren got louder, I looked over my shoulder to see the fire chief’s vehicle bearing down at high speed with lights flashing and siren blaring. But it did not continue through the exit lane.
Instead, the fire chief’s vehicle accelerated and went into the oncoming traffic lanes in order to clear the exit squeeze out of town.
No wonder he wrote, “Sending more than one lane down Banff Avenue would create a bottleneck at the north [east] end where it reduces to one lane and create a backup far worse than anything we have seen in Banff”.
A few years ago there were two lanes into town and two lanes out. A rational roadway. For some reason, our town planners decided to realign the roadway and remove one exit lane. Why, is anyone’s guess.
For the sake of public safety, it is time to re-align this section of road, back to what it was. Bow Avenue realignment can wait.
Rick Kunelius,
Banff
