Comments on: Gravel pit conundrum here to stay http://observerxtra.com/2/opinion/gravel-pit-conundrum-here-to-stay/ Woolwich | Wellesley | Elmira | St. Jocobs Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:51:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Rick Hendershot http://observerxtra.com/2/opinion/gravel-pit-conundrum-here-to-stay/comment-page-1/#comment-368 Rick Hendershot Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:38:09 +0000 http://observerxtra.com/2/?p=2387#comment-368 Having a continuous string of large, noisy gravel trucks roaring through Conestogo is not a future concern. It is happening right now. I recently saw 20 trucks in a 15 minute period pass through the main intersection of Conestogo. What makes things worse is that virtually every one of them is speeding. From what I can tell truckers completely ignore the speed limit. This makes everything much worse - the noise, the danger, the wear and tear on the roads. Since the traffic light was installed at the intersection of regional roads 17 and 22, drivers have a licence to speed through town at whatever speed they want. Regional authorities may be powerless to keep trucks off our village roads, but they are not powerless when it comes to enforcing the speed limits. Why don't the police do their job and enforce the speed limit in Conestogo? If gravel truck traffic is inevitable, at least it could be made less intrusive, noisy and dangerous if it was slowed down. Having a continuous string of large, noisy gravel trucks roaring through Conestogo is not a future concern. It is happening right now. I recently saw 20 trucks in a 15 minute period pass through the main intersection of Conestogo.

What makes things worse is that virtually every one of them is speeding. From what I can tell truckers completely ignore the speed limit. This makes everything much worse – the noise, the danger, the wear and tear on the roads.

Since the traffic light was installed at the intersection of regional roads 17 and 22, drivers have a licence to speed through town at whatever speed they want.

Regional authorities may be powerless to keep trucks off our village roads, but they are not powerless when it comes to enforcing the speed limits.

Why don’t the police do their job and enforce the speed limit in Conestogo? If gravel truck traffic is inevitable, at least it could be made less intrusive, noisy and dangerous if it was slowed down.

]]> By: Frank Price http://observerxtra.com/2/opinion/gravel-pit-conundrum-here-to-stay/comment-page-1/#comment-321 Frank Price Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:20:25 +0000 http://observerxtra.com/2/?p=2387#comment-321 I think that both the OMB and MNR are simply not taking into consideration the "Quality of Life" issues that really impact us all and which must be measured carefully in each circumstance. Surely putting in a Gravel Pit in a quiet town like Conestogo or Winterbourne which will protentially run 12 hours a day and produce a minimum of 17,000 trucks per year has a dramatic impact on the quality of life. To think it doesn't suggests that somebody has their collective heads in the sand, or should I say pit. Noise, saftey, environment, are real issues and they really do affect the quality of life of all the residence. We chose to live our lives here because we all embraced those key elements which stand out in small rual communities; safety for our children, low traffic volumes, a natural rual non urban environment, low noise rates and the enjoyment of nature, wildlife and the small rual life style. Surely two businessmen who appear to have no regard for these [our values], can't change this for everyone. In the end the MNR and OMB must change thier politcal stand and give a larger weighting score to real life issues over those of business when doing their assessments. Certainly the quality of live in all of its forms, of all the towns' people out rates the almighty dollar and the business desires of one or two individuals; who as an aside don't live in the very communities being affected. It's on days like this that I wish we were all aboriginals, because then we could simply block all the roads to and from our community. I'll bet if that were the case the MNR and OMB would be told to back off in a heart beat by the province. Big Chief Pain in the Pit I think that both the OMB and MNR are simply not taking into consideration the “Quality of Life” issues that really impact us all and which must be measured carefully in each circumstance. Surely putting in a Gravel Pit in a quiet town like Conestogo or Winterbourne which will protentially run 12 hours a day and produce a minimum of 17,000 trucks per year has a dramatic impact on the quality of life. To think it doesn’t suggests that somebody has their collective heads in the sand, or should I say pit.

Noise, saftey, environment, are real issues and they really do affect the quality of life of all the residence.

We chose to live our lives here because we all embraced those key elements which stand out in small rual communities; safety for our children, low traffic volumes, a natural rual non urban environment, low noise rates and the enjoyment of nature, wildlife and the small rual life style. Surely two businessmen who appear to have no regard for these [our values], can’t change this for everyone.

In the end the MNR and OMB must change thier politcal stand and give a larger weighting score to real life issues over those of business when doing their assessments.

Certainly the quality of live in all of its forms, of all the
towns’ people out rates the almighty dollar and the business desires of one or two individuals; who as an aside don’t live in the very communities being affected.

It’s on days like this that I wish we were all aboriginals, because then we could simply block all the roads to and from our community. I’ll bet if that were the case the MNR and OMB would be told to back off in a heart beat by the province.

Big Chief Pain in the Pit

]]>