“The kids don’t necessarily know that they can’t step out on the street like they did yesterday.”
The mayor also pointed out that school will be out soon and kids will be out playing.
At Beamish’s recommendation, the through-road will remain closed (cutting off the shortcut to the ferry) but the barricades will move from the intersection with Gower Point Road to the north side of the reopened Blain Lane. So residents of the south side of the street, as well as of Blain and Maplewood Lanes, will have vehicle access to the arterial Gower Point Road. This is while the Town works with the community on permanent traffic calming and active transportation solutions.The roads had been closed as a temporary traffic calming measure last year, rousing loud neighbourhood opposition, where many said they'd asked for calming, not closure.
Also, speeders beware – council lowered the speed limit of Glassford to 30 km / hour.Several speakers in the public inquiries section of the meeting spoke to the virtues of the road closure.
“I can’t overstate how beneficial, how good it’s been,” said one neighbourhood parent. “It used to be when the road was open, that the road was a dangerous zone, that you wouldn’t go onto the road.
“Now that it's closed, that whole space has been opened up again,” he said. “It opened back up to everybody else. And there’s just been a huge influx of walking, cyclists. And kids, of course, playing.
“It’s just created this connection and community around [it] and it’s created a neighborhood for us on the street.”Another parent said, “Since the road has been closed, I can send all of my kids across the road without having a second thought.
“It was a danger zone.”
Council’s resolution to reopen Blain Lane but leave Glassford closed was met with applause from the audience. “We just want to save summer for everybody,” said Beamish.
