By Kevin J. Sabo
For the Advance
Tempers flared during the most recent Town of Castor council meeting.
At the heart of the issue is the speedbumps on the south end of 45th St. placed to slow down traffic coming in from the county. There are three sets of speedbumps in on that stretch of 45th St. between the town limits and Hwy. 12.
The way the speedbumps are set up, an aggressive one requiring the slowing to under 30km/hr, sits at the furthest point, something which Deputy Mayor Tony Nichols took exception to.
“That is a 40km/hr road,” said Nichols.
“You should be able to pass that speed bump going 40km/hr. Those speedbumps are way too wicked, and they are unsafe.”
Also at issue is the placement of the signs around the speedbumps, with the signs being too close to the speedbumps.
“The signs have to be at least 100 metres from the hazard,” said Nichols.
Chief Administrative Officer Christopher Robblee informed council that the reason the sign was so close is because of how close the speedbump is to the edge of town, and that the town cannot place signs in the county without permission.
“I can ask if we can put the sign in the county,” said Robblee.
Nichols requested from Robblee that the south speedbumps be removed, permanently, and be placed somewhere more appropriate, such as by the parks or the school.
Robblee declined the request, saying that the speedbump would stay in place unless council directed him through a motion to have it moved.
Nichols made a motion to remove the aggressive speedbump; however, with two members of council unwilling to vote on the matter until they had the opportunity to look at the problem speedbump themselves, the motion was tabled until the next meeting.
Nichols became aware of the issue when he came into town from the county on that road.
“I was down below 30km/h,” said Nichols. “I wasn’t prepared for (the severity of the bump).”
Nichols also complained that due to the severity of the speedbump, people were beginning to drive around the bump by going into the ditch, something which Robblee said he was aware of, and that it was already planned to put a barrier in the ditch to keep that from happening further.
The matter will be brought be council again at the next council meeting on June 14th.