A second vehicle collision occurred on the Rainbow Road and Highway 1 intersection just over one month after council reopened the road.
On Feb. 2, at 10:09 p.m., a small car travelling southbound was struck by a semi travelling eastbound.
Strathmore and Chestermere RCMP responded, along with fire services, and EMS.
There were no injuries sustained from the collision, but the highway was closed for roughly 30 minutes and traffic control was provided until the semi was towed, an RCMP media relations officer said.
The collision follows a Jan. 19 incident, where a semi-truck tractor-trailer unit was heading eastbound on the highway when an SUV heading northbound on Rainbow Road entered the intersection and was struck by the semi-truck tractor-trailer.
EMS, Chestermere Fire, and Strathmore RCMP responded, and removed the SUV driver from the vehicle, who was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and was later issued a violation ticket for failure to stop.
The city previously anticipated that the gravel stretch of road couldn’t withstand large traffic volumes, so barricades were installed north of Windermere Drive to create a dead-end.
In December, the new council requested city administration reopen Rainbow Road north to traffic, despite city administration’s warnings.
“There are two issues, the quality of the gravel section, and the consideration of the safety of the Highway 1 intersection with the high speeds, the consequences of an accident would be fairly high,” director of community operations Kathy Russell said. “We need to be mindful that the intersection is properly evaluated.”
On Dec. 21, council carried a motion with the majority of votes to remove the barriers and directed administration to pay close attention to the road infrastructure.
The affected roadway doesn’t have drainage on the west side, the north end near the intersection is often wash boarded, and during the winter there is significant snow drifting.
