Proposed TransCanada bypass of Medicine Hat AB

Fred Lewis

The province of Alberta has had a plan for this for over ten years.  The TCH slices right through town.  It is a scar. A method for calculating road traffic noise from traffic volume has been developed, the use of which indicates that residents living adjacent to the highway are subject to pathological levels of noise. For more information visit https://acousticapocalypse.ca

Comments

2 comments

  • Comment author
    Norm Van Eeden Petersman

    Fred links to a website that explains further: 

    The plans for a bypass of the TransCanada Highway (TCH) have been in the works for years. The noise generated by this situation will only get worse. The time for building of the bypass is long overdue.

    The promotion of such a bypass is always accompanied by a great deal of rending of hair, gnashing of teeth and flapping of arms. These concerns are unjustified. The negative psychological effects of highway noise is a present fact. Impacts on business are largely imagined.

    Strong Towns has an article that may be of interest to you by Daniel Herriges, "To Bypass Or Not To Bypass

    Daniel writes, 

    If the in-town streets should be true streets and not stroads, then the bypass needs to be a true, no-frills road, not a stroad. 

    This means that the bypass is not a platform for development: no Circle K, no Wawa, no Burger King, no Subway, no Walmart, no Home Depot. No superfluous access points. The point is not to generate commerce (which will only compete with and suck resources away from the downtown).

    The point is to get heavy trucks past the town so they're not generating safety and health risks for locals just trying to live their lives. Full stop.

     

    0
  • Comment author
    Fred Lewis

    The alignment of the TransCanada Hwy through Medicine Hat is a "stroad".  The proposed alignment of the bypass, which is detailed on the Apocalypse website, avoids the MH city limits altogether.  The bypass will be a legitimate freeway. To quote:

    "The point is to get heavy trucks past the town so they're not generating safety and health risks for locals just trying to live their lives."

    This is precisely what the bypass will do.

     

     

    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.