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Bulford pushing for Hwy 43 changes

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Bezanson-area councillor Harold Bulford said he’s doing everything he can to change the deadly intersection located at Highway 43 and Secondary Highway 733.

Bulford, who also serves as the Fire Captain of the Bezanson Fire Station, said he spent seven-and-a-half hours at the double fatality collision last Wednesday while police investigated the cause.

Six people were sent to the hospital following the collision. Since 2002 there have been 11 fatalities at that intersection.

“I’m not a traffic analyst, I can’t tell you exactly what is causing it. I think I have a pretty good idea, it’s just a blind spot and there’s a bit of an angle on the highway,” Bulford said.

“What I do know is that it’s a busy intersection. I know there’s a lot of fatalities at that corner and I know there’s something that needs to be done.”

Last Monday, county council made a motion to write another letter to the Minister of Alberta Transportation regarding councils concerns with traffic safety at that intersection.

Bulford said he took the concern right to the Minister of Transportation at the fall Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) convention.

“We actually met with Minister (Ric) McIver, the Minister of Transportation, and I asked him face-to-face about that intersection. He said they would look into it and he had his regional director get back to me and said they’re monitoring it,” Bulford said.

About a month ago the regional director came to county council to provide an update.

“He was there probably a month ago or so. I asked him again, he said they put in a yield sign, put in flashing lights, and put in painted strips on the highway,” Bulford said.

After fatal collisions at that intersection Bulford receives a flood phone calls and e-mails from ratepayers in the division.

“I run into people and they ask me what we’re doing about that intersection,” he said.

“I’ve been lobbying for that corner and that stretch of highway that’s so rough since I got elected in June. That was kind of my priorities when I got in. Every chance I get to talk with the minister or anybody in transportation, I put in a plug about it.”

“I don’t know if they’ll ever do anything.”

Aaron.Hinks@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @DHTAaron

 

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