Doesn't measure up; Residents of Bennett Avenue concerned about narrow road DEER LAKE KATHERINE HUDSON The Western Star

Residents of Bennett Avenue and Nicholsville Road measure the width of Bennett Avenue on Monday. — Star photo by Katherine Hudson

Bill Bennett has watched the construction outside his Bennett Avenue house “since Day 1.”

It was only this weekend, when the second curb was being installed that he started to worry. He said it was then that he could visualize where the curbs would be placed and how wide the road would actually be.

“Sunday, in the rain, we took our tape and we measured exactly what was laid,” he said. “It came to 19 feet nine inches (6.05 m). ... I didn’t even know what the width was going to be because I assumed the engineers knew what they were doing.”

The contractor in charge, BAE Newplan Group Ltd., is currently paving Bennett Avenue 0.5 m narrower than Deer Lake’s development standards says Larry Hall, a former member of the council which approved the $875,000 upgrading project.

“Basically the residents of Bennett (Avenue), parts of Nicholsville Road and of Queen Street are concerned that the infrastructure ... is actually being put in at a substandard basis. This is based on the fact that the town’s development regulations state that any local street must have a pavement width of 6.5 m. The width of Bennett right now, under the contract, is only going to be 6 m which again is a substandard by about .5 m,” Hall told The Western Star Monday.

He said vehicle specifications, for trucks and buses, must have the maximum width of 2.6 m with an added 20 cm for side mirrors on either side.

“So if we look at two vehicles of such configuration driving that road, along with side mirrors, that pretty well puts the mirror into a sidewalk where somebody is going to walk. So we have a major safety concern. It doesn’t meet that requirement,” said Hall.

Hall said residents of the area were first concerned with the hotel project currently under construction at the end of Bennett Avenue. When a citizens’ coalition banded together and approached council about two years ago, Hall, as a member of council, said the town was able to present to them, along with hotel contractor, a package that slightly put them at ease.

“I’m going to say they (were) sold a false bill of goods,” Hall said. “They were told that this street was going to be brought up to a standard that was going to increase the safety on that street for the citizens and the kids that are walking it, with curbs and gutters and sidewalks and yes that’s happening. But what’s happening is they’re reducing the width. There’s no need to reduce the width because the town owns sufficient land in order to put in a proper road, even a wider road.”

Meanwhile, Bennett has lived on the street since it was created and named after his father in 1955. He said no one contacted the residents to ask about extending the road onto their property.

“I was willing to give 10 ft. of my property,” said Bennett. ‘So were the guys down the street. If the sidewalk was on my property, so be it.”

“It’s a system that if it’s allowed to go, we’re going to have to live with it,” said Hall. “Also, there’s the fact that this was sold to everybody that it was going to be done to address all safety concerns. It has made things worse more than anything else. It hasn’t addressed safety concerns; it’s caused more.

“It’s no longer going to be a local street by virtue of the amount of traffic that’s going to be up there.”

Mayor Dean Ball said the regulations in place are for new roads only and that Bennett Avenue is an existing road and therefore does not follow the same criteria.

“Six metres on Bennett Ave is adequate,” Ball said. “Six metres is the standard for all municipalities. In the last year and a half, Deer Lake council has recommended that any new developments are 6.5 m, but with any existing roads, standard policy would certainly apply which is 6 m. It’s just being upgraded with new water, sewer, curb, gutter and sidewalk. ... That’s just not for the Town of Deer Lake, that’s across the province,” said Ball.

But Hall said safety is still his main concern.

“The townspeople are prepared to act. If we have to block the road off, then we block the road off. I think that things should be done properly. It’s going to cost an extra $100,000. So what?” said Hall.