Huge traffic problem on tiny road, Quidi Vidi residents say

St. John's city council will investigate complaints that too much traffic is going through Quidi Vidi Village, amid worries that a pending development will make the situation even worse.

Residents of the area spoke up at a public forum on Wednesday night about plans to build almost 1,000 residential units homes, condos and apartments on the decommissioned federal lands in the nearby Pleasantville neighbourhood.

Quidi Vidi Village is an outport-like community tucked within the city and accessible by a narrow road.

Residents say the road is not only too congested, but also dangerous.

"One of these days, somebody is going to get hit," said resident Randy Snow.

"Like you can see, you come out through your front door, and you're on the road. There's no sidewalk, so one of the kids [is] going to get hit."

Some residents were surprised to learn Wednesday that a study for Canada Lands Corp. on traffic for the Pleasantville redevelopment did not take into account the impact on Quidi Vidi Village.

Residents say congestion worsened after the Outer Ring Road was completed and commuters began speeding through Pleasantville and then Quidi Vidi Village to reach downtown St. John's.

One-way traffic might be solution: residents

Turning the laneway in Quidi Vidi to one-way traffic might fix the problem, residents have told the city.

City traffic engineer Robin King said the idea has been raised before, but was rejected previously as being too much of an inconvenience.

"If they want to leave and go to the store, for example, on Forest Avenue, then they'd have to drive completely around the lake to get back to Quidi Vidi," he said.

However, King said the city is prepared to review the matter again.

"It was my understanding when I reviewed the traffic impact study that was done for the Canada Lands project there that there's not expected to be any significant impact on Quidi Vidi," King said.

"Now if there's some existing problems there, then that's a different situation that we'll have to look at."

Canada Lands Corp. was commissioned to develop a plan for redeveloping Pleasantville, much of which was turned into a U.S. military base during the Second World War and later turned over to the Canadian government.

The Crown corporation's plan will see Canadian Forces Station St. John's locate to a corner of the existing base, while a mix of housing would be built across the rest of the land, considered one of the best development sites in the city.