Funding and design approved by Cypress County for Dunmore traffic lights

“If you’ve ever come out there at 3:00 in the afternoon, it’s a gong show and it’s a safety hazard,” said Hamilton. “Those are young kids that don’t have driving experience that some of us adults have.”

The county has been pursuing traffic lights at the intersection for close to two years and on Tuesday their project took a sizable step forward.

Cypress County council voted unanimously on a design from engineering firm ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. Which will add lights and widen turn lanes to the tune of $1.2 million.

The lights themselves will cost $470,000 between the signals and illumination, while widening of medians and turning lanes make up the remainder.

According to Hamilton the original plan was to just spend money on the lights themselves, but added to the project when it was determined they could do more to improve safety.

“Originally it was going to be $800,000 just for the lights,” he said. So, to come in at $1.2 million to try and better that intersection we feel is money well spent.”

Ernest Mudie was among the most vocal councillors in support of the upgrades on Tuesday and said getting to this point has been a long time coming.

“It’s always good to see a project come to be done,” said Mudie. “Sometimes you deal with this stuff for a long time and you begin to wonder if it will ever happen.”

Cypress County has partnered with the provincial government to fund the traffic lights and highway upgrades, with Alberta Transportation kicking in $400,000 to make the project possible.

Tarolyn Aaserud, chief administrative officer with the county, said Alberta Transportation has stepped up to the plate and are committed to making changes.

“They realize through traffic counts how busy that intersection is and when there’s [motor vehicle collisions] and those sort of statistics,” said Aaserud. “So, Alberta Transportation has been very, very supportive.”

The lane widening and radius improvements will take place on the northwest, southwest, southeast, and northeast corners along with a widening of the median separating the west and eastbound lanes.

Much debate was had at Tuesday’s council meeting over the northeast corner especially, as it features smaller traffic counts from westbound vehicles turning north and boasted the largest price tag of $250,000 alone.

However, Hamilton said large trucks already struggle to make the tight turn north.

“That’s a constant use for the farmers bringing in their grain to the elevators, so it needed to be done,” he said.

When asked about possibly leaving the northeast upgrades out of the final design, Mudie was outspoken saying he didn’t want to be known as the councillor to reject an important safety improvement.

“We spend that kind of money on lots of different roads, if we’re going to spend that money let’s do it right,” said Mudie.

More emphasis was put on the intersection during Tuesday’s meeting as councillors brought up their plan for a ‘Gasoline Alley’ and the need for safe intersections to accommodate any increases in traffic.

Now that the funding for the project has been ironed out, Hamilton said it’s time to get to work.

“We have a chance to do it now, let’s get it done right, do it once and for all and have it finished,” he said.

The county is aiming to begin construction sometime in the spring of 2020, with the lights slated to be operational later that summer.

by Scott Roblin

Funding and design approved by Cypress County for Dunmore traffic lights

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