Manitoba will be installing new traffic lights at the intersection of Provincial Trunk Highway (PTH) 59 North and Bison Drive-Anishinabe Way in response to concerns from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.
In a media release, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor said, “installing new traffic signal lights, reducing the highway speed through the community and improving signage are important steps toward addressing (community) concerns.”
In April this year, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation issued a press release calling for immediate speed reduction, proper lighting, and safe crossing points for pedestrians after one of its community members was hit and killed.
The First Nation said it had been calling for changes years before hand.
“We welcome this new controlled intersection, which will improve safety on Highway 59 North through our community,” Chief Gordon Bluesky said in a media release. “This is the result of decades of work and advocacy by our First Nation.”
He said while this is great news, it is already too late for those who have lost their lives, and for those that have lost their loved ones.
Naylor said $2 million in safety projects are being added to plans to build a new bridge over the Brokenhead River that is “currently in the initial planning and design stage.”
More engagement is to be had with the community about the bridge in the new year, she said.
The province added that Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure has been talking with Brokenhead Ojibway Nation about twinning Highway 59 and updating the initial design from 2016 to consider new safe walking and bicycle paths for residents.