City of Medicine Hat says it has more evidence to back rejig of problem intersection

Part of the fix includes extending a right merge lane southbound on Sixth Avenue, paving over two parking spots that Kollektiv owner Sabrina Moore says are essential for her business.

There were 41 total collisions at the intersection between 2010 and 2021, according to data from Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors.

Moore recently found new provincial data that showed there was only one collision in 2022 and one in 2023.

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READ: Reworking of problematic Medicine Hat intersection ‘detrimental’

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“Two collisions over two years is not at all a high-collision area, in my opinion,” she said from the sidewalk outside her studio on Friday.

But the city stands by its assessment.

Patrick Bohan, managing director of development and infrastructure, said the city set up a Miovision smart camera by the problem intersection in the last two weeks after consultation with downtown business owners.

He said the results were immediate.

“In a matter of 40 minutes, we counted nine traffic infractions in that one intersection alone,” Bohan said.

“Now we’re still pulling together and coalescing all that data, but really what that tells me is that there’s more to this story than just straight numbers that end up with Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors.”

Data pulled from the camera will be presented at the next Development and Infrastructure Committee meeting on April 3. But officials said it could be released to the public earlier.

Moore said losing the parking spots will still negatively impact her business.

Graphic/CHAT News

“It comes down to accessibility for a business, which I’ve said time and time again, they have to be accessible for their patrons, for people to actually come to their businesses,” she said.

While two parking spots will soon be eliminated from in front of Moore’s Kollektiv, the time limit for the other four spots has been extended from 30 minutes to two hours.

Seven new parking stalls have been created throughout the downtown, as well.

It’s not the first time in recent months that a business owner has spoken out about how they feel treated by the city.

Several of them met in January with an aim to advocate their concerns with utility rates, property taxes, construction and other challenges they blame on the City of Medicine Hat.

Kole van Maarion, who owns the Kolab work sharing space downtown, said at the meeting that they wanted to “come across united as a front.”

Bohan said the city cares about the downtown community.

“We really, really do care about trying to address the issues that are raised by our business community,” he said.

“And have we got engaged with them throughout this process? Absolutely. Could we do more? Absolutely. We’re learning as we go in many of these circumstances,” Bohan added.

“But I have to say, I’m confident that we’ve had good engagement.”

Moore and others don’t see it that way.

“It comes down to how much adversity are these downtown businesses expected to go through? First there was COVID, and then there’s road construction, and now they’re removing parking when it’s already limited as it is,” Moore said.

“I just don’t know how much more these downtown businesses can take, and a lot of them are picking up and moving and going elsewhere, or shutting their doors.”

— With files from Jayk Sterkenberg

by Eli J. Ridder

City of Medicine Hat says it has more evidence to back rejig of problem intersection

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