Residents of the area surrounding the “four-corners” intersection of Belvedere, Bel-Horizon, and College streets in Sherbrooke are raising their collective voices about the presence of big trucks on their roads. Doris Turcotte, a resident of Belvedere Street South, stood before Sherbrooke’s city council on Monday night to present a petition asking, among other things, that the traffic on the three streets be limited to automobiles only after the completion of the next section of the highway 410 extension, as the large number of transport trucks passing through the sector creates a significant danger and disruption to those living in the area.
“This is a residential zone not made for heavy truck traffic,” Turcotte said, arguing that limiting local road access to smaller vehicles and creating the supporting framework of rules to go along with that would mark a significant improvement in the quality of life of those living in the area. The petition further demands that vehicles heading to and from DGL Construction on the western end of Bel-Horizon Street be required to access the 410 extension via Dunant Street, rather than have them cut up though what should be quieter local neighbourhoods. To help with that redesign, the petition also stated that the 70km/h zones approaching the corner should be set to 50km/h instead.
“I think it probably should be set at 50, but it will be hard to control,” said Lennoxville Borough President David Price, pointing out that while the city manages and maintains the roads, they are currently a Ministry of Transport overseen truck route. Though it is the city’s responsibility to put up signage and maintain the roads, the MTQ needs to approve any decision that is made.
The Borough President argued that the completion of the next section of the 410 extension, planned to meet up with the 143 on the south end of Lennoxville, will go a long way towards resolving the issue.
“I don’t think there will be any problem with it,” Price said. “I’ve already talked to the MTQ about this.”
Price added that what is important in seeing the petition tabled is that is adds extra weight to the argument that the existing truck route need to be redesigned to channel the heavy traffic onto more appropriate roadways. Though the areas mentioned in the petition are almost exclusively in the Mont-Bellevue Borough rather than in Lennoxville, the Borough President said that the decisions made will have an impact on life in the former town as well.
“It’s basically the argument that’s been going on for many years; we don’t want the trucks back there and we want to be able to start putting up stop signs,” Price said. “The corner of Vaudry is a good example; we have an accident on the corner of Vaudry and College roughly once a month.”
The residents’ petition was accepted by the city without comment for further analysis.
