Gridlock from collision underscores need for road upgrades

To the Editor,

The significant four-vehicle crash that took place on September 19 on Arthur Street near Sawmill Road is exactly the type of accident that demonstrates the need to widen Arthur Street South and/ or get a bypass built as soon as possible.

Arthur Street was closed between the St. Jacobs roundabout to the King Street exit at Walmart from the afternoon to late at night, thus causing a horrendous traffic gridlock in the surrounding area.

Traffic in both directions was diverted to either St. Jacobs via King Street North or Conestogo via Northfield Drive. We were on our way to Waterloo at 5 p.m. and witnessed traffic at a standstill from the St. Jacobs garden centre all the way into Conestogo (i.e. 2.4 kms). Traffic was also backed up at least 0.5 km to the north and 10 cars to the south at the intersection of

New Jerusalem Road as vehicles were attempting to turn onto Sawmill Road. Once we got to the lights in Conestogo we witnessed traffic backed up on Northfield Drive at least 1 km to 1.5 km in both directions.

Google Maps also showed at that time the entire road system around St. Jacobs and North Waterloo was in gridlock. There had to be at least a thousand vehicles in the immediate area struggling to navigate around this road closure at the time. I am guessing this ultimately impacted thousands of vehicles over the time span the road was closed.

Sadly, five people were involved in the accident, with three of them taken to hospital. The cause of the accident is undetermined at this time but my guess is the two-lane design of Arthur Street South may have been a contributing factor (i.e. not a divided highway).

This is a great demonstration that the widening of Arthur Street South and/or building the bypass will not solely benefit the citizens of Elmira and improve the safety along that stretch. It will also benefit Waterloo Region because such a road closure has a far-reaching and cascading impact on the region as a whole. The high volume of traffic that was diverted from Arthur Street to alternate routes caused a massive gridlock in North Waterloo, Conestogo and St. Jacobs, impacting thousands of people.

The very next day the township tested its emergency sirens because they need to ensure the sirens are in working order. Why does the township want to ensure they work? It is because they/we are concerned there will be a chemical release or gas leak at a chemical plant or from transportation accident or some another disaster that will require us to either stay indoors or even leave Elmira. Imagine what the result would have been if we had a real catastrophe on September 19 and the citizens had to leave Elmira? It would have been impossible to leave in a timely fashion as both Arthur Street South and Church Street East were closed!

With the current growth that is underway in Elmira and what is expected to come in just the next five to ten years, such scenarios and risks along this stretch of road are only going to become greater in occurrences and impact.

Arthur Street South is our most important and highest volume route to and from Elmira, yet it is our weakest point. We need the region to accelerate its timelines for the widening of this highway and/or for getting the Elmira bypass built. Otherwise, we will continue to see significant injuries and crashes along this stretch that will cripple the region’s infrastructure capacity and thus increase the risk for a significant event.

We cannot wait another 30 years, which is the current timeline for these to be completed.