Calgarians concerned over Bowness roundabout safety

A roundabout in the northwest community of Bowness has some Calgarians living in the area concerned for their safety.

The traffic circle is at Sarcee Trail and 34 Avenue NW, very close to a townhouse complex. Some people who live there say the sidewalk is too narrow, and people who walk along it are too close to the road.

Shawna Easthope lives in the area and says something needs to be done.

“It is not designed for the safety of the people in this residence,” she said.

Across the street and a mere block and a half west of the roundabout is Our Lady of the Assumption elementary school. Locals say with school starting again in September, the issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

“So many of them walk this little, tiny sidewalk twice a day, and it’s scary,” Bowness resident Eve Dejeet said.

The community is proposing a series of traffic bollards that would prevent vehicles from breaching the sidewalk.

In the meantime, some locals are taking matters into their own hands, going so far as to set up pylons along the edge of the roadway to create a little more space between cars and the sidewalk.

“We found these cones, we constantly keep putting them up,” resident Michel Bourque said. “Some people keep taking them away, which I figure is the city. But, we just put them there to create awareness and more colour and to narrow the road to slow people down.

“We just hope that someone from the city hears us and actually starts caring and wants to [make] this place safer before something happens.”

Ward 1 Councillor Sonya Sharp says more signage and speed limit reductions will be implemented in the near future to address the problem.

The City of Calgary was unavailable for comment.