The new set of traffic lights that were installed earlier this month at 10th Sideroad and Line 8 are now up and running.
The much anticipated lights "were included in this year's budget and installed as 'temporary' lights, because when the 8th line is upgraded, the plan is to put in a roundabout," explained Coun. Peter Ferragine, who also sits on the town's Traffic Committee.
"Council decided this year that these “interim” lights must go up now for safety reasons and for better flow of traffic reasons," said Coun. Gary Baynes who is also on the Traffic Committee.
Originally planned to be put in by October, there was a delay due to bids and the tendering process where no contractor wanted to take on the work, explained Ferragine.
But town staff were able to retender and obtain a few bids in order to have them installed by the end of the year.
Due to increasing traffic volume in the area, it was decided the lights were very much needed.
"The main push for these lights, was that it is a busy intersection with traffic consistently flowing North/South making it difficult at times for traffic in the East/West directions (stopped at stop signs) to turn into the 10th Sideroad," said Ferragine.
Fully signalized intersections are usually installed based on warrants from the Ontario Traffic Act and are typically planned as part of major Capital construction or reconstruction projects.
"This was a special case and all of council supported installing these “interim” stop lights," explained Baynes.
As for the future of the intersection and whether or not it will be turned into a roundabout is still undetermined.
"A number of councillors, including me, like the use of roundabouts in certain locations but question whether this intersection will be more safe as well as more effective with a permanent set of stop lights along with additional right and left turn lanes," said Baynes.
