The city has approved the purchase of used temporary portable lights for traffic control at the intersection of Theatre Road and McPhee Road during a special council meeting on Tuesday.
At a cost of $115,000, the lights will be used as a temporary solution to traffic control until a full build out plan for the industrial park is realized.
Councillor Wes Graham welcomed the measure.
“It’s great,” said Coun. Graham. “It’s a much needed improvement to the intersection and it will help the safety of the motorists in that area. We’re seeing higher traffic volumes with more development happening in the industrial park.”
Curtis Penson, the Manager of Engineering and Field Services, says the signalling system should be up and running within a few months.
According to a staff report, the installation of traffic signals at the intersection was originally proposed to be completed by 2021 to allow time for traffic studies to be done. Development of the newly acquired Tembec industrial lands purchased by the city as well as the Wildstone neighbourhood is expected to impact traffic flow.
A traffic study for the entire industrial park area is being eyed, depending on budget consultations, that will include looking at additional traffic signalling in other intersections.
Crash statistics at that particular intersection over the last five years show 10 collisions with injuries in half of them. All told, there were 18 incidents which included two rear-ends, two reversing into a vehicle behind them, a sideswipe changing lanes, a head on collision and two others.
According to the last traffic count conducted four years ago, 565 vehicles went through the intersection at peak morning times while 748 went through at peak times in the evening.
