Lets Stop the Controversal Road Access to Terwillegar Foot Bridge Through Wolf Willow and/or Edmonton Country Club NOW!

The Controversy over access to River Valley Oleskiw

First let me say that I was involved in a recent fight with the City of Edmonton Bureaucracy. As a Director of Edmonton's Heritage Festival, we fought to block a new beach/Lake in Hawrelak Park as viewed below.

 

This lake would have shut down 14 of Heritage Festival's tents. No one in City Hall wanted it, Heritage Festival didn't want it, Edmonton Federation if Community Leagues didn't want it. Yet it got so far that we all had to go down to city hall to fight it.

 

We won. It was stopped.

 

Now we have to face the "Parking Lot". Not the Terwillegar bridge, the bridge is a done deal. Let's talk about access to the walking trails and an upcoming parking lot.

 

Here is an overhead of the area from Google earth.

 

 

Here is artwork of where the bridge is going, 90 degrees clockwise from above.

Now here is the problem. Construction of the bridge. For very good reasons, people on the west side, in Country Club Estates and on Woodward Crescent are concerned that construction of the bridge will require access from one of two unsuitable routes. These routes include passage through Country Club Estates and  Woodward Crescent. The City of Edmonton is trying to convince the owners of the Country Club golf course to allow trucks through to build the North Side of the Bridge. Woodward Crescent is worried that their route may be chosen.

Here is a look at the two possible routes, as seen from above. Country Club in Orange, Woodward in Blue, Possible parking lot in Red and Bridge in Purple.


I don't want either of these routes used. I want all construction to take place from the South Side in Terwillegar where Road Access already exists. Why? Because if either of these routes are used it will become very easy for city bureaucrats to attempt to continue to use the routes after the bridge is constructed.

I walked both those roads. NEITHER can be used. Neither is wide enough. Both have very steep sections, dangerous in winter, and neither of the roads leading into those future sites are ready for the traffic required.

It simply will not work from either side and all access should be blocked now so that they cannot be used in the future.

But I have another reason I want them stopped. I like the bridge. I like bridges that connect our ribbon of green from Fort Saskatchewan to Devon but we need to keep all other roads and development out of those sections of the river valley. I worry that if we start developing the river of green we end up with this in Terwillegar Park.

Another lake nobody wants. So we have a parking lot nobody wants, roads nobody wants, lakes nobody wants and they all cost money. Then another, then another then another. We need to draw the line today. Keep the areas available for footpaths, bike paths, dog parks and no roads and no fake lakes.

 

I already fought one lake. I accept the bridge but the rest has to stop. We need to keep our ribbon of green green.