East Ferris Mayor Bill Vrebosch says it’s taking way too long to make Corbeil Corners a safe area for motor vehicle traffic and the length of time is frustrating him.
For years Vrebosch has been talking to the Ministry of Transportation about how to make the intersection of Highway 17 and 94 a safer corridor.
He says considerations involved a roundabout and traffic lights.
Vrebosch personally favours a roundabout because it forces traffic to slowdown.
The East Ferris Mayor says that’s opposed to some motorists who speed up when a traffic light turns amber and if that results in a collision, the impact speed will be well above 90 kilometres an hour.
However Vrebosch says the MTO decided to go the traffic light route but he’s seen no action on any lights being erected.
“When will they go up, when they invent a new light?” said Vrebosch.
Vrebosch says putting up lights along Highway 17 is nothing new and adds about seven traffic lights dot the Highway 17 corridor in the Petawawa to Pembroke area plus there’s a traffic light in Chalk River.
For Vrebosch the fight with the MTO on Corbeil Corners has been going on for about four years.
He says each time he raises the issue, it’s the same response, which is the ministry is in the process of property acquisition.
Vrebosch says there’s no denying the Corbeil Corners area is dangerous to the point some people simply avoid it.
“There are some people so afraid they won’t go to church in Corbeil and some seniors won’t cross the intersection and instead go the other way through North Bay,” he said.
Vrebosch says a factor that makes the stretch of highway dangerous is a hill which he said is supposed to come down and help create a straight line of sight.
Vrebosch says he has no idea where work on this aspect of the highway is at.
