KAGAWONG—Billings township council has received further confirmation that the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is putting in no stopping signs on Highway 540 near Bridal Veil Falls that is geared to alleviate some of the safety concerns council has raised in the past with vehicles parking in the area.
“We have received a letter from the MTO on the no-stopping signs,” Billings Clerk Kathy McDonald told council at a regular council meeting last week.
The letter to council from Anna Long, traffic analyst with the MTO Northeastern Region dated January 17 stated, “this letter is to inform you that this office is processing an Ontario Regulation to restrict motorists from stopping on both east and west sides of Highway 540 south of the Bridal Veils Falls parking entrance. Restricting this movement would provide a safer environment for patrons using this tourist attraction as well as motorists using this highway corridor.”
This no stopping area takes in an area of 360 metres from the township’s new parking lot on the east side of the highway and on the west side as well down to the Highway 540-Yonge Street area.
Council had initially been notified by the MTO of the installation of the signs last fall, and since then township council has been lobbying the local Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to commit to providing enforcement at this location when people are parking in the area. However, this has been to no avail up to this point.
Councillor Brian Parker pointed out at last week’s council meeting that Manitoulin OPP Detachment Commander Staff Sergeant Kevin Webb has indicated he would be attending a future council meeting, and that he requested a copy of the letter from the MTO on installing the no stopping signs.
Ms. McDonald pointed out council wants to meet Staff Sergeant Webb not only to discuss enforcement on the parking issue on Highway 540 but OPP staffing issues as well.
Council agreed that ∆the township needs to promote people using the new parking lot when they visit Bridal Veil Falls or businesses in the area.
“Even if we could get a little enforcement from the OPP on people parking where they shouldn’t be, even for a couple of days (it will help dissuade traffic from parking in the area),” said Ms. McDonald.
“We’ll see how this all works out,” said councillor Sharon Alkenbrack, noting the township has been calling for the no stopping zone for quite a while now.
Ms. Lang told the Recorder late last week, “the issue is safety, and that is why the township put in a new parking lot; they are hoping people will park there. We have had a lot of complaints with people parking their vehicles at the bridge. And for safety reasons we (MTO) decided to install no stopping signs in the area. We are hoping, as well as the township, that people will park in the parking lot area that the township put in.”
