Editor:
While Banff’s traffic conundrum is indeed becoming a larger problem all the time, I can’t help but think “I told you so” – though not directly to you – or “as ye sow, so shall ye reap” because for many, many years it has been stated “we need to increase tourism each year.”
In any case, the idea was to have more and more tourists coming to Banff every year, and now that this has been accomplished – with many more still to come – nobody knows what to do with them.
Banff was created for a finite number of people with no opportunity to grow outwards like most towns can, so a town built for a maximum of 10,000 people now has to try and cope with millions more coming temporarily every year, as does the entire of Banff National Park. Definitely not an easy task, and obviously not one that I have an answer to.
Possibly closing the Banff National Park east gates after a certain number of people have passed through – opening up again when enough people have departed – this would be determined at the park gates.
This would indeed annoy a great many people.
Maybe those who dreamed up the idea in the first place should be tasked with solving the dilemma? Anybody else with a brilliant idea needs to think well ahead and try to determine what might eventually happen if their idea is adopted.
Susan Ediss,
Cochrane
