Safety concerns expressed at south Lethbridge intersection

Complaints have recently been made regarding a particular residential intersection in Lethbridge, with one resident demanding changes to make it safer.

Virgil Grandfield is a resident who has been living directly off 13th St S for the past 20 years. He says dangerous driving and speeding has been a growing problem over the past few years, and is a particular problem for the intersection located nearest to him by 9th Ave S.

The intersection is located in a residential part of town metres away from the Fleetwood Bawden school zone and seniors housing on the other side of the road. 13th Street serves as one of four arterial roads in the city, stretching from 26th Avenue North all the way down to 16th Avenue South.

The Traffic Engineers at the City of Lethbridge claim the southern stretch of 13th Street is well engineered as an arterial road considering it used to serve as a horse and buggy route.

City data says this intersection ranks 15th overall in collision frequencies between 2021 and 2025, and 3rd along the whole of 13th street. There were 34 total reported collisions resulting in 10 minor injuries during that timeframe.

City data from 2022 additionally claims nearly 11,000 trips are made across 13th Street daily, or about 4 million annually.