Alberta Transportation is officially revisiting the safety and controls on North Dinosaur Trail near St. Anthony’s School.
Last June inSide Drumheller reported that St. Anthony’s principal JoAnne Akerboom met with Alberta Transportation Minister Ric McIver and Drumheller – Settler MLA Rick Strankman to discuss changes that could be made to the structure of the highway that runs past the school.
Alberta Transportation is looking into options to make North Dinosaur Trail safer for students and drivers.
Many parents and teachers feel the speed on this stretch of road is a danger to students. Akerboom said she has since had another meeting with Alberta Transportation officials in Red Deer..
“We are now a part of an official file for Alberta Transportation,” said Akerboom. “They were going to reassess the situation and get back to us by November 1.”
Akerboom said the school had received some initial suggestions from Alberta Transportation on how to make the intersection and stretch of highway safer. Akerboom adds the delay in communication was mainly because of the flooding last spring and then a busy summer. She has confidence moving forward.
“We had a great meeting with them so I feel everything is on track. I felt they were really listening to the concerns and coming back with some ideas to make sure we are good and safe in front of the school,” she said.
“We are really pushing to see if we can get the speed reduced or a School Zone put in place, and they are assessing to see which one is viable. One of the big things is for them to come back and say why or why not. They have been very good explaining the procedure in terms of why speed limits are set.
She explains that often speed limits are based on how many entrances there are to the road. For example, on South Dinosaur Trail, entering the Newcastle area, the speed limit drops because there is a high number of entrances onto the highway as well as intersections. On North Dinosaur Trail there are a limited number of entrances to the road. Because there are less entrances, Alberta Transportation can set the speed limit higher.
“We’re saying that’s all fine and dandy, but does the formula take into consideration five year olds crossing the highway?”
