Guelph police have begun ticketing drivers using the normally-quiet Skov Crescent to bypass the closed intersection of Eramosa Road and Stevenson Street.
Because of construction, Stevenson is closed with signs at Pleasant Road, while Eramosa Road is closed with signs at Metcalfe Street.
An officer with the Guelph Police Service was on Skov Crescent for education and enforcement on Thursday morning, said Scott Tracey, media relations with Guelph Police Service.
Before 10:45 a.m. a total of four tickets were handed out to motorists using the road improperly.
Tracey said the tickets were issued either for driving on a closed road or disobey a sign.
Each ticket is $85, but amounts to about $110 after fees, he said.
“Skov Crescent is a small street that connects Eramosa on one side and Stevenson on the other, so people have been using it as a short cut to get around the closed intersection,” said Tracey.
Tracey said whenever an intersection is closed, surrounding streets can often expect an increase in traffic. What makes the use of Skov Crescent different than some other road closures is to get to that street a driver would have to pass signs saying through traffic is prohibited.
“So anyone driving on Stevenson past Pleasant or Eramosa past Metcalfe — in other words, anyone who is able to get to Skov Crescent in the first place — has already driven past the signs indicating the road is closed and there is no through traffic,” said Tracey.
Tracey said the police department had received a number of complaints from residents on the street, both about the increase in traffic and the speed at which some vehicles were travelling.
On Wednesday the Guelph Police Service Twitter account announced officers would be on scene to enforce the restrictions.
On the street Thursday morning, Tracey said there was less frequent traffic on the street versus when he was on Skov Crescent a few days earlier.
“Maybe that has been enough to let people know they shouldn’t be here,” he said of the tweet.
Responses to the tweet varied from ‘you can't ticket people just for using a public road’ to people asking why the police had not enforced similar traffic patterns in their own neighbourhoods.
Tracey said on Thursday that it all has to do with people driving past the signs prohibiting through traffic, though he admits that signage could have been made more clear.
As of Thursday morning there were no signs directly on Skov Crescent to say it is prohibited to make the detour.
“But people shouldn’t be here in the first place, which is what makes this a little different than other road closures we have seen,” Tracey added.
A woman named Kelly, who didn't want her last name used, said she has lived on the normally quiet street almost 10 years and the traffic has never been as bad as it is now.
“Sometimes it takes a while to back out of the driveway and that’s not normal,” said Kelly.
She admits the speeding along the street has become less frequent after a radar sign was put up about halfway down the street.
“Some people drive fast no matter where they go,” said Kelly.
The closure of the intersection is scheduled to be completed on Friday, according to a posting on the City of Guelph web site.
