LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Intersection should be closed

For over a decade, the intersection of Highway 12 and Provincial Road 210 has been a local Ste. Anne institution. The intersection saves some residents from having to use an interchange at the north end of town, which has led to carnage and near-death experiences to drivers (via cutting-off) on PTH 12. MTI (Manitoba highways) now wants to either partially close the intersection or put in a roundabout. Both options are awful and stupid.

The reeve of the RM says he and his council want a roundabout. While roundabouts are a good thing somewhere else, they are an asinine suggestion for this intersection. They would bottleneck the 9,000 vehicles a day that use PTH 12 waiting to enter, slow them down and cause more potential accidents, similar to traffic lights. If they are considering a roundabout, they could spend that money to re-direct PR 210 to link with Dawson Road west of the interchange.

MIT also proposes to allow left turns from either side of PTH 12 and ban crossings or left turns from PR 210. While better than a roundabout, this is also a bad solution. Firstly, there is already an interchange. Second, left-turn cross-traffic will still plague PTH 12. Thirdly, it is demented to allow southbound PTH 12 traffic to turn left onto the PR 210 when they can use the interchange they passed on their way. This should be grounds for committal to Selkirk. Worst of all, because the intersection would remain intact for PTH 12 left-turns, it would still be possible for PR 210 traffic to ignore the laws and use the intersection anyway. Given their tendency for taking chances, how can we expect that cross-traffic to care about a few road signs?

Innocent people are getting killed and injured because this intersection is being left open. Especially with the existing interchange, there is zero reason for it to stay even partially open (aside from right on/right offs), and the longer it does, the more blood MTI and local politicians will have on their hands. The intersection should be fully closed or grade-separated. Nothing else is acceptable.