I’m not sure how long ago Bayfield Street in Barrie was created, but it must have been back in the day when there were not any civil engineers. Thinking more about that, there probably were civil engineers, just the type deficient in foresight. Anybody who has ever experienced that street at any time other than the the middle of the night knows exactly what I am talking about.
The picture at the end of this post was taken at approximately 3:15 pm on a Sunday, Dec 29th. As you can see, it is solid traffic as far as you can see, and indeed it is the same way all the way from where is starts at the north end of Barrie to where the exit for highway 400 is. The rest of the street down to the water was packed as well, but moving. It took me 40 minutes to make the 3 minute trip from the offramp of the highway to Futureshop. I was in no rush, and there were good tunes on the radio, so I just sat back and relaxed with my car in neutral, every so often taking my foot off the brake to coast forward a little more.
As we inched forward, I began to think about this problem from the perspective of an engineer. What the hell were those civil’s thinking? I mean, it is possible that they had no way of knowing Barrie would grow as it has, or that Bayfield would become such a well use route. Even so, some sort of plan for expansion should have been in place. As it stands, there is no way the road can be widened anymore without a substantial amount of money and time, and the removal or relocation of a few buildings.
You may say that this was only a problem the day I was there because it was boxing week. But that is not the case. It backs up every weekend guarantee, and even afternoons on weekdays experience more volume than should be seen. Unless there is some sort of bypass built for those who use it solely for their commute, or some other idea comes along, the problem is just going to get worse as Barrie and its surrounding area expand. Most, if not all, of Simcoe County uses Barrie as a primary source for harder to find goods and shopping. There just isn’t the selection or appreciable mall size any where else. The next closest place is Toronto, and driving there is enough to make you lose it!
![[inspic=24,none,fullscreen,thumb]](http://blog.tapsadventureco.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/traffic.jpg){kind=link}
11/01/2008 at 2:35 am Permalink
Hahaha…. I lived on the west side of Bayfield, on the hill halfway down between the 400 and Wellington St.
Even back in the day when Barrie was only 50,000 people, that street was horrendous. Try backing out of your driveway, across southbound traffic to go north on Bayfield.
13/01/2008 at 10:18 pm Permalink
Holy crap. I would not want to have to do that every day.