Following Friday afternoon crash regional councillor says work on solution continues
Luke Edwards/NiagaraThisWeek Staff Photo
There were no serious injuries in a collision at Mountain Street near Elm Street in Grimsby Friday afternoon. A transport truck lost control coming down the escarpment and collided into five vehicles before coming to a rest on the lawn across from Syndicate Restaurant.
Tony Quirk says the Region is both working towards a longterm solution and considering more immediate actions to improve safety at Mountain Street in Grimsby and Mountain Road in Beamsville.
This comes after there were no serious injuries in a Friday afternoon collision that involved a transport truck and five vehicles.
Around 3 p.m. on Friday a truck heading northbound on Mountain Street lost control as it came down the escarpment. It then collided with five vehicles as it crossed Elm Street and came to a stop on the lawn across from Syndicate Restaurant.
Quirk said work continues on a master plan to alleviate truck traffic on both escarpment crossings in Grimsby and Beamsville. That plan would see a new crossing built at Bartlett Road. The environmental assessment for the crossing has been accepted and the next phase would see Regional staff and council decide on a route above the escarpment.
“We’re looking for that process to continue,” he said, though cautioned “it’s not an overnight process.”
The problem is that regional roads are meant to be main arterial roads and councillors can’t ban truck traffic on those roads. Once the Bartlett extension is built the Region will be able to download Mountain Street and Mountain Road to their respective local municipalities, which do have the power to regulate and ban truck traffic.
“We just have to move forward, as quickly as possible,” Quirk said. Every time an accident like last Friday’s occurs, it spurs people to call on politicians for action. But the regional councillor said they are continually working to get a solution.
In the meantime, he has asked senior staff at the Region to tour the area this week to see if there are also ways to improve safety in the area. That could possibly include removing the engine brake ban or installing other safety barriers along Mountain Street. While Quirk said he understands there are noise issues with regards to engine brakes, it might be a burden residents have to deal with.
“We have to put safety first over noise complaints,” he said.
Luckily no one was critically hurt in last Friday’s collision, though many of the drivers were shaken up by the collision. The doors of one vehicle were jammed shut by the impact and had to be forced open by emergency crews.
This isn’t the first time a truck has lost control coming down Mountain Street. Many neighbours who came out to view the wreckage said they knew what happened simply by the sound the collision made.
Source: NiagaraThisWeek.com