Residents of a neighbourhood in northwest Kitchener woke up Tuesday to an unexpected sight.
While construction crews haven’t quite finished giving Glasgow Street a facelift, one person had taken it upon themselves to express their judgement on the project.
The phrase ‘tax waste’ was scrawled on several new road signs installed as part of the reconstruction.
Nobody in the neighbourhood Tuesday afternoon seemed to know who was behind the messages, but most expressed similar frustrations with the traffic-calming project.
“I don’t think it’s slowing anybody down,” said Gail Bradshaw.
“I think it’s a waste of money. I don’t see a purpose for it.”
After considering speed bumps and other options, city officials decided to embark on a $90,000 project to install a series of medians in the centre of the road.
Raised curbs were also added to the side of the road, providing an obstacle for cyclists but theoretically slowing down drivers.
Tyler Schneider bikes down Glasgow every day on his commute to and from work.
He says he usually feels safe on Glasgow – and that his ride has been made more difficult by the new infrastructure.
“There’s isn’t a lot of room to maneuver,” he said.
“I think it could have been left the way it is.”
In an email to CTV News, Coun. Zyg Janecki – who represents the neighbourhood – said that he was “disappointed” in the vandalism, and felt that the $90,000 was “money well spent.”
Peter Dedes, who chairs Kitchener’s cycling advisory committee, agrees, saying “selfishness” is to blame for complaints like those of the sign scrawler.
“People think that their unencumbered driving is more important than the safety of somebody walking on the sidewalk or somebody riding their bike in a bike lane,” he said.
City studies show that most drivers traversed Glasgow at 60 km/h or more prior to the reconstruction, despite a posted speed limit of 40 km/h.
