An alley adjacent to the Warman Cemetery commonly used by motorists as a high-speed shortcut between Peters Street and Central Street is slated to be closed to vehicles.
It will still be open to pedestrians and bicycle traffic.
Warman City Council approved a bylaw to close the city-owned alley to motorized traffic at a meeting on Monday, October 26.
The move by the city can’t come soon enough for George and Colleen Balas and their neighbours.
“There’s an average of 50 to 60 vehicles per day using the alley,” said Balas in an interview November 3. “We’ve counted as many as 100. And they’re not going slow, either.
“There have been quite a few near-misses. People walking along the alley have had to literally jump out of the way of vehicles coming around the blind corner.”
Balas said he has had his fence facing the alley, his lawn, and his underground sprinkler heads damaged on several occasions by vehicles over the five years he and his wife have owned the home.
But while property repairs are an expensive nuisance, he said he’s more worried about somebody getting injured or even killed by speeding vehicles.
“The safety of my family, neighbours and the public is a real concern,” he said. “The alley was never designed to handle the volume of traffic we’re seeing now.”
He said while most of the vehicles using the alley are light trucks, cars and SUVs, heavy commercial trucks have contributed to damage of the roadway itself. Dust control measures don’t last, and “washboarding” happens regularly, he added.
The road was built just for local access by area residents, he said.
“There aren’t any lights along the alley, and it’s not ploughed in the winter,” said Balas. “Lots of times vehicles get stuck in the snow because they’re going too fast to make the turn. The fence along the cemetery property line has been damaged on occasion by vehicles skidding into it.”
Several of Balas’ neighbours along Peters Street also support the alley being closed to vehicles.
The alley is slated to be blocked off in the near future.