09/11/2026
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Marla Howard - As a Riverside resident who lives directly on 3rd Street, and also being involved in this project for the past 1.5 years I have had many meetings with City admin, staff, and council as well as Riverside residents, here's my takeaway.
There was a new proposed design presented to council on Wednesday Sept 9th. This was shared with our Riverside Community Connect BBQ in print. The good news here is that the road itself will remain the current width. The road itself will not be narrowed. However, seven proposed bumpouts would effectively narrow the usable roadway at multiple locations.
We did not have an opportunity to discuss this as a group at the BBQ. It was simply too busy. Since then, however, Riverside residents have reviewed the plans individually and spoken with one another and with members of the community.
There are some serious concerns that we believe need to be addressed before moving forward.
Safety cannot be improved by creating a different safety problem.
3rd Street is a truck route. The proposed bumpouts appear likely to create significant difficulty for large trucks navigating certain turns and sections of the roadway.
(Ex: St Joes gets deliveries almost daily. The delivery trucks are very large semis delivering necessities. The trucks come up from Altawana. They have to turn left onto 3rd St. There's no doubt in our minds they will have to go into oncoming traffic to make their turn. Cars etc coming eastbound will have to stop until the truck can make its turn. Traffic is now backed up. Hopefully the driver going eastbound knows a large truck could potentially be turning into their lane.
If a large truck has to cross into an oncoming traffic lane to safely make a turn around a bumpout, how does that improve safety?
We should not be trading one safety concern for another.
A large commercial vehicle entering an opposing lane creates an obvious conflict with oncoming traffic. It can also slow traffic, create congestion and make the roadway more difficult to navigate for everyone.
That is not a safety improvement. It is simply moving the safety concern from one place to another.
What happens when trucks stop using 3rd Street?
We are also concerned about the possibility that truck drivers will begin avoiding 3rd Street because of these obstacles and instead use 1st Street NE/NW.
If that happens, are we actually improving safety or simply redirecting heavy commercial traffic onto another residential street?
1st Street has residential homes, pedestrian activity, access to the trail system, and a playground. Moving more large trucks toward an area where children and pedestrians are more present does not appear to be a safer outcome for our community.
Before approving these changes, we believe the City should demonstrate (using actual traffic actual large trucks and real world data) that this will improve safety rather than simply redistribute the problem.
Our homes and our investment matter too.
As taxpayers and homeowners, we are concerned that placing multiple permanent bumpouts along a major truck route could negatively affect the desirability and value of homes along 3rd Street and in the surrounding Riverside neighbourhood.
We should not have to accept a potential loss to our property values in exchange for a project that has not demonstrated that it will make our neighbourhood safer.
Pedestrian safety does not require bumpouts.
We absolutely support safe pedestrian crossings.
But safe crossings can be achieved through other measures including properly timed signals, flashing lights, pedestrian activated warning systems, alarms and clearly marked crossings.
If the objective is pedestrian safety, then let’s focus on solutions that improve pedestrian visibility and protection without creating new conflicts with trucks and vehicles.
We are asking Council to look at the whole picture.
We are not opposed to improving Riverside.
We are asking Council to look carefully at the actual consequences of the proposed design.
Before moving forward, we believe the City should answer some very basic questions:
● Can large trucks navigate every proposed bumpout without crossing into opposing traffic?
● What does the truck-turning analysis actually show?
● Where will trucks go if 3rd Street becomes difficult to navigate?
● What will increased truck traffic on 1st Street NE/NW mean for pedestrian and playground safety?
● What evidence demonstrates that these bumpouts will reduce collisions and improve overall safety?
● What consideration has been given to the potential impact on Riverside property values?
● Could pedestrian safety be achieved through enhanced crossings, flashing lights, signals and other measures without creating obstacles on a designated truck route?
We believe safety should be measured by the entire transportation system not simply by what happens at one intersection or one crossing.
Riverside residents live here. We walk these streets. We drive these streets. We watch our children and grandchildren play here. We know the traffic patterns, the trucks, the pedestrians and the realities of this neighbourhood.
We want improvements that make Riverside genuinely safer not improvements that create a new set of problems.
Council has an opportunity to get this right.
Please listen to the people who live here, examine the evidence, and find a solution that improves pedestrian safety without compromising truck safety, traffic flow, neighbourhood safety or the value of the homes we have worked so hard to build and maintain.
We don’t want one safety problem exchanged for another. We want a safer Riverside: for everyone.
