The right hand lane on northbound Dunmore Road is now a dedicated right-turn only lane as of Nov. 9. (Photo Courtesy Ross Lavigne)

By Gates Guarin

Dunmore Road lane change now in effect

Nov 9, 2022 | 4:14 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The City of Medicine Hat is reminding drivers that the right hand lane on northbound Dunmore Road at Spencer Street is now a dedicated right turn only lane.

The change officially went into effect Nov. 9, with new signs reflecting the update now installed on the traffic arm in the intersection.

Drivers wanting to drive straight through the intersection from northbound Dunmore Road onto Kingsway Avenue will have to do so from the left hand lane only. No other changes were made to the intersection as a whole. The city has also put signage up as you make your way down the hill on Dunmore Road to remind drivers of the change.

Stan Nowakowski, engineering manager of city assets and municipal works, describes why the change went into affect.

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“We did some vehicle counts this summer and some traffic analysis, and it showed that there would be a benefit to the northbound traffic, so we made the changes.” Nowakowski says. He adds the change is considered an interim one, and will be made permanent when the city begins to reconstruct the Kingsway corridor in a few years.

Nowakowski says feedback had been coming through from the community, and the city decided to take action.

“We follow engineering best practices and industry standards, and we did our due diligence and that’s why it took a couple of months to get it in effect,” Nowakowski says. “We hope that the traffic flow for the northbound vehicles will improve slightly. We will be monitoring the intersection to see if there’s any tweaks that we need to make.”

Nowakowski says it will take time to adjust for the change.

“Keep an eye on the signs, the new signs that we’ve put up, and also just a reminder to follow traffic laws, including coming to a complete stop at a red light before making that right hand turn when it is safe to do so.”