INNISFAIL – When Innisfail councillor Gavin Bates arrived at the White Rock pedestrian rail crossing last month to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony there was a surprise for him.
Mayor Jean Barclay handed him the scissors to cut the ribbon.
“She said, ‘you were kind of the major push on council. You cut the ribbon,” said Bates. “It was an honour for me to do it, but the mayor had handed me the scissors and said that I had helped the push, but the reality is that it was a team effort of the entire council, and nobody resisted.”
The ribbon cutting ceremony on Nov. 22 to officially open the pedestrian rail crossing was a symbolic beginning to the best and safest route away and forward from one of the town’s most controversial and frightening issues it had to deal with in recent local history.
The issue came to the attention of the town in late 2018 and early 2019 when an increasing number of reports were reported to police and school officials that youths were playing dangerous ‘chicken’ games along the rail tracks near the then unregulated White Rock Crossing, located near the intersection of 52nd and 54th avenues and where hundreds of young students crossed every day to and from the Innisfail Schools Campus.
Police said at the time said there were at least half a dozen documented serious incidents reported, with the ages of children involved being between seven and 11-years-old.
According to local RCMP and emergency service officials, the crossing area was being illegally accessed by Innisfailians, mostly school children, up to 200 times each school day.
The RCMP and CP Police became involved, and after lengthy study and discussion with community stakeholders the town ultimately committed itself to create an upgraded pedestrian railway crossing with signals, lights, bells and arms.
The total cost, including creating a paved path, was $600,000. Project construction began in June of 2021 but due to delays was not completed until the fall of 2022.
The Nov. 22 ceremony included several other members of council, administration staff, Innisfail RCMP, CP Police, Innisfail community peace officers and up to 20 Innisfail Middle School students.
The ceremony was especially satisfying for Innisfail RCMP Const. Craig Nelson who immediately believed there was an issue at White Rock Crossing when he first arrived in town in 2017.
“We were having kids that were crossing the tracks illegally, and that was problematic and dangerous,” said Nelson, who is the local detachment’s community schools resource officer. “And so, it took some students with some dangerous behaviors on the tracks for us to really kind of say, ‘OK, we need to do something about this'.
“It was a long time coming because it takes time to put the pieces together to get the funding, and all the people and partners involved, including Canadian Pacific and the town, to have a consultation and figure out what is the best type of crossing and actually build it. And I couldn't be happier. It's amazing.”
As for Bates, he noted the town was also able to have horn cessation along the rail line at about the same time, adding not having a controlled crossing at White Rock would have been a barrier to that initiative as well.
“It's now a perfect setup; all paid and gives you the ability to take the youngest child down there and teach them how to safely cross,” said Bates. “You couldn't do that before with trains coming of different speeds and a big rough, elevated rail bed crossing.
“And that's what drove me.
“I kept thinking, ‘if I can't take a child there and teach them how to cross safely then I need help from my municipality to create a proper crossing'.”
