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City hall packed as neighbours protest suggested traffic changes downtown

Residents fear more cars

City hall was packed on Tuesday night as locals came out to protest suggested changes to the traffic in the area around Thorold's Lock 7.

The city is looking into three different options with the goal of improving pedestrian safety and has suggested either a closure of Chapel Street S between Portland Street and Welland Canals Parkway, re-routing traffic from and to Welland Canals Parkway with no access to Chapel St S from the parkway.

The more conservative of the measures is the last one, simply suggesting more signage and line painting.

But during a public meeting on the suggested changes, residents of the neighborhood came out to air their frustration with the suggestions and sounded the alarm on the traffic situation in the area that would not be helped if it would increase.

"There is already a lot of traffic, speeding and offroad vehicles on Chapel Street. How will emergency services get around in the summer when you have a lot of tourists and cyclists parked everywhere?" asked resident Antsy Sullivan.

One man said that instead of traffic changes, bylaw enforcement should be more regular in the area, as he painted the parking situation in the proposed area disastrous.

"We see the bylaw officers around at the wrong time. I have a fire hydrant near my house and people park there all the time. They park on corners. You should come out at night, you'll have a field day writing tickets!" he exclaimed.

Manager of engineering Sean Dunsmore who held the presentation had a hard time keeping up with all the questions fired at him during the meeting that he later crowned in the top 5 in well-attended public meetings he has held.

"People have legitimate concerns that we have listened to. We will take them with us as we keep looking for a solution that would work for everybody", he told Thorold News.

Changes to the intersection need to go through a process in city council, where the matter could end up around September, the city said.