London Lunacy part 3

The long-winding, short-sighted new sidewalk or walking into a drainage ditch of death!

A few weeks ago I complained about the lack of a Sidewalk on the stretch of Southdale Road between Pine Valley Crescent (that is neither in a valley or a piney retreat) and Farnham Road/Bostwick Road in South London. Even though there's a townhouse complex on Dalhousie Drive, it seems the developers never foresaw a day when people would walk along Southdale Road. My walk to the newly built (3 yrs ago) nearby Power Center with Starbucks therefore involved a portion of soft shoulder or grass walking - fine at my age and fitness but not so much for the elderly.

As if my voice was some sort of Midas Touch of Infrastructure, within days of my Facebook post, a bobcat-like tractor appeared near Farnham Road. It began clearing sod and dirt for what I instantly knew was to be a sidewalk. Brilliant, I thought. People remarked that I was now to be known as 'Infrastructure Man' for my clearly magical powers!

As the process continued, I began to become a little concerned. Let me paint a picture of the pre-existing condition to set-up the story a little. Like many suburban roads, for most of the length of the stretch there were two lanes for vehicles and a soft shoulder of about 5 feet on both sides. On the south side there was a drainage ditch about 10 feet wide and a further 10-15 feet of grass and trees until the backyards of the townhomes and in some cases parking lots. Just east of the townhomes is a Right-of-Way, then about 500 feet of Hydro Property where a fairly large Transfer Station sits, setback as far as the row of townhouses. To the west of that, there sits a small commercial strip mall about 200 feet wide. It would appear that when all of these developments were approved, planners took care to ensure the setbacks were of a similar distance. This is mosy likely to accommodate future road-widening.

So, with that picture painted let me continue. It seemed to me that the logical route for a sidewalk would be behind the drainage ditch for the entire length. My walking route followed this straight path from the Right-of-Way (I used to walk through one of the townhouse parking lots) to the commercial strip. In fact, there was a fairly well-worn strip of grass where other pedestrians clearly had the same idea.

The sidewalk started out with this set-up for the entire length of the townhomes. For some reason though, it now takes a swing towards the roadway and replaces most of the soft-shoulder until it gets east of the Hyrdro Station, at wich point it cuts back away from the road, closer to the commercial strip plaza's parking lot and the small grassy knoll that sits in front of it.

So, while I was a bit disturbed by this, it only just occured to me last night that there might be some drainage issues. The sidewalk was sitting a good 4 inches above the soft shoulder for this stretch of road, but at least there was still some soft shoulder. Today, my worst fears were confirmed. (well, not really worst fears, I fear bear attacks slightly more than poorly planned infrastructure!) The builders of the sidewalk did not put-in any storm sewers or drainage, which I at first worried (and still do) would lead to ponding of water along the side of the road leading to the inevitable drive-by soaker.

However a drive-by soaker may now be the least of the pedestrian's worries. Today, I watched in horror as the rest of the soft shoulder was asphalted over and get this, raised to be at the same grade as the sidewalk that now runs right next to the 80K roadway!!! In other words, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to prevent cars from driving onto the sidewalk for about 400 feet! In addition there is a turn-lane for the Home Depot and a very slight merge just to the west of Pine Valley Crescent!

I can see the close-calls and potential deaths already! No white line can prevent a car from driving over a significant portion of this sidewalk. Let me explain again - the road is on the exact same level as the sidewalk - it is an asphalted/concrete hard shoulder - not a sidewalk guarded by a 4 inch curb designed to kill a car's suspension! I cannot for the life of me imagine the stupidity behind this piece of road/sidewalk design! I'd rather have no sidewalk then a nice smooth transition into my legs!

The engineer who designed this should be fired, preferrably from a cannon!

The blatant disregard for pedestrian safety ought to be enough to strip him or her of any certification in his/her chosen field!

Not only is this situation unsafe and potentially deadly, its a short-sighted waste of taxpayer dollars. There is no reason this sidewalk needed to be built in this fashion save for current expediency. I can only guess that the City was unable to secure the portion of road allowance (see, makes little sense) in front of the Hydro Transfer Station. But a Road Allowance is exactly that! It allows for future Road Widenings. And sidewalks!

So, in the eventual case that this portion of Southdale is eidened from 2 to 4 lanes, this sidewalk will have to be torn up and relocated where it should have been built in the first instance - in line with the rest of the sidewalk on the outside of the drainage ditch!

Oh, and did I mention its all unlit?

So I'll feel relatively safe while the construction barrels are in place but guess when they go, I'll be back to using the well-worn path in the grass.

Meanwhile the City's part-time City Council wrestles with tough issues, like whether or not to hold public meetings to discuss the issue of putting content filters on Library Computers. Idiots and Asshats!