Minor changes to this spring’s Diamond Valley Parade route are expected to address concerns over parking and poor access in and out of town that have plagued the annual event for years.
During its Feb. 3 meeting, Black Diamond Town council approved changing its parade route for the June event, which attracts about 4,000 viewers, to increase parking opportunities, prevent motorists from getting locked into residential areas, and decrease barricades throughout the community.
The previous parade route had been in place for six years.
“We think that this new route will help eliminate any frustrations that people had regarding the barricades,” said Quinn Page, Black Diamond economic development and events manager. “It’s going to allow for better access in town and through town, it’s also going to allow for more parking options and it’s going to allow us to detour the large trucks through town and get them back on the highway and not be driving on side streets where they may be damaging the roads.”
Last summer, David Petrovich, the Town’s former economic development and events coordinator, approached council with a proposed route drafted by Town administration and a councilor that avoided a portion of Highway 22, including the four-way stop, to allow for more parking and better access for motorists in the north and west ends of town.
Petrovich told council the Town hired a security company for the first time last spring to man the barricades after several volunteers backed out, worried that increasingly frustrated motorists could resort to threatening with weapons due to previous incidents of verbal abuse.
He said the security company cost $5,000 to $7,000.
Rather than accepting Petrovich’s parade route proposal last summer, council chose to explore other possible routes.
The discussion came up at a recent Black Diamond council committee of the whole meeting. After the meeting some councillors walked and drove along the streets, discussing and looked at road conditions and overhead power lines, before the recommendation came to council last week.
The new route frees up space on roads in the town’s north end for parking and shortens the previous detour route along 1 St. S.E. by returning traffic to Highway 22 sooner.
If the Town does not receive approval from Alberta Transportation to place a barricade at the intersection of Government Road and Ford Street, the route will instead go south at 4 St. S.W. and east on 1 Ave. SW.
“That will shorten the detour route so that we don’t have the parking problem all the way along the detour route that we’ve had in the past,” said Coun. Mike Ross last week of the new parade route.
“It allows us to still carry the parade through the downtown core.”
Traffic traveling south will be detoured for only one block on 1 St. S.E. before returning to Highway 22 while traffic going east and west between Turner Valley and Okotoks traffic will be diverted on residential streets north of Highway 7.
“It allows them to find parking in the north side of town, which was previously closed off,” Ross said. “It increases parking areas and gives options for people to get through town. It also provides access for people who live there to get out of town. We think we found a viable solution and hope it won’t have to change for years to come.”
Black Diamond mayor Sharlene Brown told council the new route continues to give downtown businesses exposure while giving residents in the north and west parts of the town a way in and out of Black Diamond during the parade.
She said the next step is communicating with the public.
“We will have to work with residents to make sure they are well informed and there is no issues,” she said. “That probably should start fairly soon. There’s got to be a whole community awareness piece. June really isn’t that far away.”
The changes are expected the cost the Town an additional $2,000 over last year’s costs to man the barricades and detour routes.
Page said the Town will hire a security company to man the barricades again this year.
To see a map of the new route and detour go to town.blackdiamond.ab.ca
