REGINA – With Regina’s continuing population growth, traffic congestion has become a problem, particularly downtown and in the mayor’s old ward – the rapidly-growing east end.
“If it’s not sequenced properly, you’ll have three or four blocks where there’s general traffic and then you get over the bridge and it’s wide open again,” said Mayor Michael Fougere of Arcola Avenue, the street he drives down every day to get to work at city hall and the first street that’s been re-synchronized since the city switched to a digital system several weeks ago.
“We have a new computer system that’s monitored all the time to change the sequencing of the lights, the synchronization of lights, depending on the time of day,” said Mayor Fougere.
The new software, which cost $30,000 will allow a traffic engineer to monitor about 100 of the 176 signals around the city. Until just recently, if the city wanted to change the timing of a light, they would have to do so manually. Now, the mayor says Reginans will soon see improved traffic flow.
“The priority was the east end of the city. The northwest is… being done as well because those are growth areas. Those lights that went in have that technology put in already,” said Fougere.
Within the next three weeks, the city will reprogram the lights on Lewvan Drive from Gordon Road to Saskatchewan Drive, then they will retrofit the lights on Victoria Avenue East and at the end of four months they will have also completed Broad Street from Broadway Avenue to downtown.
The mayor admits with more traffic, the issue of congestion will never be completely eliminated, but for impatient drivers, trying to speed through a series of green lights could very well land you a ticket.
“Our job is public safety, and it’s not public convenience, so we expect people will obey the rules of the road, and obey traffic signals,” said Elizabeth Popowich from the Regina Police Service.
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