Aiming to ensure pedestrian safety and cater to increased traffic the Town of Sylvan Lake has added a new traffic signal at the intersection of 46 St. and 47 Ave. The signal began normal operation Monday morning.
Town project manager Eric Boudreau said, “With 46 St. being a principal means for traffic to access and leave lakeshore, an elevated level of traffic has been observed at this intersection. The traffic signals were added to improve vehicular and pedestrian safety through the area by improving the level of service and synchronizing the timing of 50 St./47 Ave., 46 St./47 Ave., and 43 St./47 Ave. intersections.”
The road alignment and position of intersection corners posed challenges while building the traffic lights.
Boudreau said, “Some of the major issues stemmed from the roadways not being aligned perpendicularly with each other. It’s what we call an off-set intersection.
“Another major issue was each corner needed to be adjusted to better allow pedestrians to cross the road and to improve the ability for vehicles to make right-hand turns through the intersection.”
The signalization of the intersection including the traffic signals and surface works has a budget of $443,640.00.
“The project also saw the replacement of the underground infrastructure, water, sanitary, storm mains, within the intersection. This scope of the project has an estimated budget of $650,000.”
Boudreau said generally the traffic flows fairly well through town.
Boudreau said, “We do observe a higher than typical level of traffic during the summer months but this is expected and we plan as best as we can to build infrastructure that will work in all seasons.”
Boudreau said an increase in traffic has also been observed at intersections of 46 St. and 47 Ave., Hwy. 20 and Erickson Dr., Hwy. 20 and Memorial Trail, 50 St. and Memorial Trail, and 50 St. and 50 Ave.
“Currently, we are looking at making changes to the aforementioned intersections to increase safety. The proposed changes will be determined after detailed engineering has been completed,” Boudreau concluded.