Whistle Bend residents frustrated with lack of traffic-calming action by City of Whitehorse

Isabella Calissi · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 07, 2025 1:00 PM EST | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Residents connected Eugene Avenue successful Whitehorse’s Whistle Bend neighbourhood are frustrated with what they consciousness is simply a deficiency of enactment from the metropolis to instrumentality traffic-calming measures connected their engaged street, aft years of petitioning for thing to beryllium done. 

“When you look astatine it connected the map, it looks similar a tiny residential street. So however could we ever cognize that this would happen?" Brenda Morrison, who lives connected Eugene Avenue, said.

"We consciousness similar we've benignant of been cheated retired of prime of beingness sometimes.”

Morrison has lived connected the residential thoroughfare for 3 years, aft winning a lodging lottery. In that time, she's seen different country residents utilizing the thoroughfare arsenic a shortcut into the Witch Hazel Drive area, arsenic good arsenic operation crews passing done to get to a tract adjacent to the road. 

After complaints from residents, the City of Whitehorse commissioned a traffic-calming study for Eugene Avenue by Martinson Golly Ltd.

In that report, the institution tracked the fig of vehicles utilizing the thoroughfare implicit a two-week play successful aboriginal 2024. It recovered that much than 1,000 cars utilized the thoroughfare each weekday, and much than 800 connected the weekend.

Brenda Morrison, who lives connected Eugene Avenue, says there's ever tons of operation and residential postulation connected the street. (Isabella Calissi/CBC)

The study led to a traffic-calming aviator this summer, wherever 1 extremity of the thoroughfare was barricaded, forcing drivers to usage a somewhat longer mode down Witch Hazel Drive. 

Morrison said she did a survey herself of her neighbours and recovered that astir each of them were thrilled by the bid and quiet, and wanted the blockade to stay and fto the thoroughfare go a cul-de-sac. 

“Oh my gosh, that was like, truthful wonderful. We could really beryllium retired connected the street. The kids [rode their] bikes. It was quieter. It was really, truly nice,” she said. 

However, the blockade was removed adjacent the extremity of August, and present Morrison says the dense postulation is backmost and worse than ever. She says she doesn’t recognize wherefore it was taken down.

“I don't cognize what it takes. We followed each the protocols. I went to municipality hall. I completed truthful overmuch enactment connected this … I don't cognize what we're doing wrong,” she said. She worries that she and her neighbours volition person to hold adjacent longer for immoderate benignant of change. 

This barricade went up successful August 2025 to deter radical from cutting done Eugene Avenue. (Isabella Calissi/CBC)

Rob Dickson is simply a manager of engineering services with the City of Whitehorse. He says the blockade was removed for 2 reasons: it would impede snowfall removal during the winter, and it gives the metropolis a accidental to analyse the postulation information to spot if the barricade should spell up again.

“A communal attack with making imperishable changes to existing roadworthy infrastructure is to trial things retired to spot however they execute successful existent life," Dickson said.

"Oftentimes, that tin beryllium for 1 to 3 years earlier we person capable information to put successful benignant of a large infrastructure change."

The outgo of gathering a due cul-de-sac, according to the postulation report, is estimated astatine $365,000.

Dickson says the adjacent steps are to analyse the data, and metropolis officials anticipation to person an update for residents by spring. A barricade could beryllium installed again adjacent summertime arsenic a pilot, but it volition apt beryllium years earlier thing imperishable mightiness beryllium done, helium says.