Bragg Creek is looking for a bit of sunshine from Alberta Transportation to get the failing four-way stop on the intersection of Balsam Ave., Hwy. 22 and Hwy 758 on the priority list once and for all.

The hamlet's revitalization committee sees the intersection as detrimental to the hamlet's floundering economy and believes action is way overdue.

An online petition launched on change.org was launched nearly three weeks ago and saw a drastic spike in support after it hit the mainstream Calgary media. It has garnered 752 and proponents hope that number will continue to climb.

Heading up subcommittee on the issue is Mike Shea, who's family has owned property in the Bragg Creek area for 51 years and has seen the congestion get to the point where it discourages people from coming to the community.

"Obviously Alberta Transportation sees it as a problem as well because they conducted a study back in October 2012," points out Shea. "The traffic situations, particularly on weekends, long weekend and special events during the summer, has gotten to the point where the intersection is not operationally functionable anymore. You have lineups for 45 minutes for people waiting to clear the intersection."

"It's frustrating for people that want to come to Bragg Creek from Calgary and other parts of Alberta. A lot of people make a conscious decision not to go to Bragg Creek again after the frustration of sitting in that lineup. So not only does it impact the local residents but its impacting a larger area."

Bragg Creek has been struggling since the flood of 2013 and tourism is vital for many local businesses. In fact, it's the single driving force, says Liz Breakey, division 1 councillor of Rocky View County.

"The county has been trying for certainly the full six years I've beenon council," says Breakey. "It has alway been near the top of the list of priorities but we just haven't convinced Alberta Transportatoion yet."

Now she says many people find alternative routes because it's well publicized as being a corner to avoid. 

"If we can get some development going here improving that intersection that would really help."

Shea says the petition will continue to be online until at least the end of the September Long Weekend. At that point the committee will consider its options but one is definitely to present it to provincial and county officials.

Seven alternatives were proposed in the 2012 study completed on the intersection for Alberta Transportation by Eagle Engineering Corporation and the favoured option was a series of two traffic cycles to deal with the irregular intersection. At the time it was estimated to cost $2 million to complete, though current estimates aren't available and won't be until Alberta Transportation seriously considers adding it to their "sunshine" list.

Banff-Cochrane MLA Cam Westhead admits it may sound backwards but sometimes you have to eat the icing first before you bite into the cake.

Westhead sees the interchange of Hwy. 1A and Hwy. 22 as the key project that must be undertaken before other improvements to the Hwy. 22 corridor identified by Alberta Transportation in 2012 can proceed. Unfortunately that includes the four-way stop.

"I guess you eat the icing on the cake first and then you do the rest of it. You want to do the good part first and then the pieces that complement that afterwards."

Besides the Bragg Creek corner and Hwy. 1A and 22 interchange, Alberta Transportation proposed long-term plans for the stretch of Hwy. 22 in this area include a traffic circle at the intersection with Hwy. 567, improving the Hwy. 1 and Hwy. 8 interchanges and twinning it from Cochrane to Hwy. 8. 

As a resident of Bragg Creek, MLA Westhead is quite aware of the situation and says he first brought the issue to the attention of Transportation minister Brian Mason when first elected and will continue to advocate for the upgrade.

"Every year we look at the capital plan and balance needs from across province to address priority intersections," says Westhead. "It's not possible to include every project in the capital plan and we work down that plan in a priority sequence. The difficult job that the transportation minister has is to try and look at things on a corridor basis and tackle the bigger issues first and work his way down."

Still, Westhead doesn't discourage people from signing the petition and sees it as ammunition to continue to press Bragg Creek's case. He won't, however, be signing because he has a direct line to the Transportation minister.

"My role is to stand up for my constituents and bring forward their concerns to the minister, and that's what I'm doing. I encourage people to participate int he petition process, I would never discourage anyone from doing that.."

He does believe the wording of the petition is not in the accepted form to be presented in the Legislative Assembly but he will bring the concerns forward regardless.

"Whether a petition is officially recognized or unofficial, I still take those concerns seriously and I want to stand up and represent the concerns expressed."

You can sign the petition here.