U-turns at Highway 410 interchange an 'accident looking for a time to happen,' Caledon residents say
A group of Caledon, Ont., residents is calling on the province to address traffic gridlock on a Highway 410 interchange that they say is an "accident looking for a time to happen."
Drivers travelling northbound on Highway 410 are using the Hurontario Street South-Valleywood Boulevard interchange as a shortcut to bypass rush hour congestion in neighbouring Brampton, says resident Leith Parish-Rigby.
She claims swaths of commuters take the off-ramp every evening and turn right on Valleywood Boulevard, instead of waiting in the lineup at the stop sign to turn left on Hurontario Street.
Then they pull a U-turn at the entrance of the town's Valleywood community, around 60 kilometres northwest of Toronto, where Parish-Rigby lives.
"They touch their brakes, they look and then they zip around," she explained.
Watch Leith Parish Rigby catch four drivers exit Highway 410 and pull U-turns along Valleywood Boulevard:
The number of drivers using the manoeuvre has grown "progressively worse" in the last four years, Parish-Rigby contends, as Brampton's population expanded.
"It was like monkey-see-monkey-do," she said. "This is probably the most convenient cut off."
No road signs are posted to curb drivers from making U-turns along the residential street that's the only entrance point into Valleywood, which is made up of 840 houses.
Residents want the Ministry of Transportation to fix the issue.
"There's kids all over the place, there's cars all over the place and it's an accident looking for a time to happen," Parish-Rigby contends.
"It's inevitable."
The residents launched an online petition last week, with nearly 100 signatures, and have sent a letter to Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones asking for a "no U-turn" sign to be installed.
Ministry 'hesitant' to install 'no U-turn' sign
The ministry declined an interview, but told CBC Toronto in an email that it does not recommend putting up the sign after reviewing traffic operations at the intersection.
"We are hesitant to do this because it will just push any U-turn traffic further into the residential area; thus, creating additional traffic safety and operational issues," said spokesperson Katrina Lalor.
The only current solution, Lalor explained, is to have Ontario Provincial Police increase patrols in the area — something the ministry has requested.
"Additional OPP enforcement should discourage aggressive driving behaviours," she said.
A spokesperson for the Caledon OPP detachment said while it "understands and appreciates" residents' concerns about U-turns, "it is actually not an illegal moving violation."
The detachment's acting staff sergeant recently visited the 410 northbound off-ramp at Valleywood during commuter hours and found traffic to be "heavily backed up," Const. Tamara Schubert told CBC Toronto.
But U-turns aren't a long-term solution to traffic congestion, she said.
Rather, the Caledon OPP detachment commander prefers that traffic signals be installed at the 410 northbound off-ramp at Valleywood, she said. OPP and local fire officials are invited to a meeting with Caledon transportation staff "to explore solutions to propose to the Ministry of Transportation," she said.
Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson says the town's "handcuffed" in its ability to increase street safety and improve the flow of traffic in Valleywood because the Highway 410 interchange is controlled by the ministry.
Thompson claims he has urged the ministry to develop a solution to deal with the jump in population in Caledon and Brampton for nearly a decade.
"I have been constantly sending letters," he told CBC Toronto.
"What we really need is the Ministry of Transportation to step up to the plate and take ownership of this."
Since the interchange was built in 2007, Thompson explains, the volume of vehicles trying to get into Brampton has "done nothing but increase."
"The whole intersection is underplanned, underdeveloped," he said, noting the design never accounted for the population boom.
"We have developed new plans, we just need the province to work with us," Thompson said.
"But in the meantime, get stop lights up here. Allow us to put up 'no U-turn' signs, so we can get people to move safely while not affecting our residents' safety."
Clarification : An earlier version of this story suggested the U-turns are an illegal manoeuvre. The OPP says they are not illegal.(Aug 14, 2018 10:04 AM)
