Valleywood residents continue to make their safety concerns about the Highway 410 and Highway 10 interchange known, and many came out to a public meeting to view plans that will eventually change the roadway in order to accommodate commercial development planned for the Mayfield West development.

The open house was held on February 25 at the Brampton Christian School to show residents the proposed plans for the Mayfield West Phase Two development on the west side of Highway 10, but several Valleywood residents showed up with an eye specifically to how this will affect the current interchange, which has faced a host of criticisms since it opened in November, 2009.

Local residents say the Highway interchange is confusing and unsafe, and since the new Highway opened, residents have been directing lost drivers and the subdivision has seen unnecessary truck and vehicular traffic on an ongoing basis. Many of them are not prepared to wait years for the new version of the interchange, and want immediate measures taken to protect their safety.

Some changes have been made since the opening, including modified signage and bigger stop signs at Valleywood Boulevard and Royal Valley Drive, but residents are still reporting lost drivers in the neighbourhood regularly.

Mayor Marolyn Morrison and Ward 2 Regional Councillor Allan Thompson met with Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne recently to discuss the 410 issue.

"When we showed her some of the information and the emails (from residents)... she turned to her people and said, 'Can you please go out on site and get this resolved with the Town of Caledon,'" said Thompson. "They said they will be following up with us in the next couple of weeks to meet up with us on site."

Both Thompson and Morrison believe proper signage will go a long way to solving the problems with the interchange.

"I would like to see, when it says Hurontario Street South, I want it to say Brampton, and when it says Highway 10 North I want it to say Orangeville," explained Morrison. "We also want an overhead (sign)... because that's what truckers look at. And the way the signage is now, coming around the curves there's so much signage... you wouldn't be watching the road you'd be reading the signs."

When an overhead sign was suggested to the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) they did not reject the notion, but noted that overhead signs are typically only used on highways with three or more lanes in each direction.

Thompson noted that many of the signs are too low and can be blocked from view when driving behind a truck. He said he would like to see overhead signs on the ramp coming off Highway 10 South to continue south on Hurontario Street indicating that trucks should keep right.

Also a matter of concern is the safety of pedestrians trying to leave the Valleywood area. "The sidewalk design, asking the public to cross Highway 10 on the ramp... the traffic there comes and they just do a fast yield and away they go," said Thompson.

Thompson noted in an e-mail that the Town is close to finding a date to meet on-site with Ministry officials, and hopes they will be able to nail down specific benchmarks.

"I want timelines from them on how they're going to deliver so that I can report that to the community," he said. "If we don't have timelines this can get dragged on for some time and that's not good for anybody."

A big concern residents have expressed is the upcoming busy soccer season that will only serve to complicate matters further. Cars reportedly park on both sides of Valleywood Boulevard in order to access the soccer fields, further narrowing an area where trucks have been forced to attempt three-point turns in order to get out of the closed neighbourhood. While Thompson believes that most truck drivers will see the cars and not proceed in that direction, he's concerned they may resort to backing up.

"This is why we have to have it fixed. With soccer season, I'm sorry, this has to be rectified by soccer season," said the Councillor, noting that the summer months will see an increase in truck traffic as aggregate mining operations get under way. "This is the light period of traffic that we're having to deal with."

Caledon councillors, the Mayor and OPP continue to receive frequent e-mail updates from residents committed to keeping their issue on the radar of officials.

"The e-mails that I'm getting, the people are very respectful," said Thompson, adding that the documentation helped in the meeting with Minsiter Wynne.

Mayor Morrison admits that there is frustration on both sides of the issue.  "The 410 is not the Town's highway and we tried to have some input and we try to influence the way it's going, but in the end MTO does what MTO wants to do. It's frustrating to the residents, but it's frustrating for us also.

"Ultimately I'd like to see traffic signals... because when you come around off of some of those ramps the visuals, the sightlines aren't wonderful. Not if you're in a small car. I know MTO is saying they meet the standards, but I'm sorry, I drive a little car, a little hybrid, and the sightlines aren't great."

Morrison believes the current traffic count doesn't warrant traffic signals in the MTO's books, but that a new traffic count is scheduled for the spring. She hopes the new count will prove a need for signals in the area. "I'd like to think it would so that we can get the lights.

"We don't want egos or anything to get in the way here. We want what's best for the community."