A long line of cars waiting for their turn at the Starbucks drive-thru has caused near misses and traffic snafus over the years, and talks between the town, OPP, and Starbucks Canada have yet to produce a solution.
Staff-Sgt. Chris Maecker provided the Collingwood OPP detachment commander report on Monday afternoon to the Collingwood Police Services Board meeting, outlining updates on ongoing investigations and initiatives.
As part of that update, Maecker outlined conversations occurring between the Collingwood OPP, the Town of Collingwood and Starbucks Canada Corporate regarding the traffic congestion that is occurring at their Collingwood location due to the proximity of the drive-thru to the street entrance on First Street.
“This is not something that I believe is going away,” said Sgt. Maecker. “It’s something we as the OPP and the community will have to continue to work through. We’re working on coming up with solutions at that intersection.”
Maecker said traffic blockages and near-misses and collisions are common in the area.
“There’s a lot of frustrations in the community,” he said, adding that signs have been added to the area as an interim solution.
Long-term remedies could include restructuring at the intersection of Pine and First Street.
“We were hopeful they would consider a different way to align the drive-thru. Our most recent conversation has indicated they aren’t able to do that,” said Peggy Slama, the town’s director of public works, engineering, and environmental services. “I know they’re looking at a couple of different opportunities.”
Maecker said the OPP brought forward the solution of bringing the drive-thru off of Sidelaunch Way and shutting off the First Street connection.
He said conversations between the groups to come up with the most appropriate solution would continue.
