The chair of public works in Charlottetown has begun the process of making traffic flow through the city much easier.
Coun. Terry Bernard said a city resolution calls for the city to issue a request for proposals, the purpose being to hire an engineering firm that will look at every single traffic light in the city.
"We're getting an engineering consultant to look at all our signalized intersections. We want to go through the data of all that we have,'' Bernard said.
The public works chair said the goal is fourfold - synchronize all traffic lights, see that traffic lights have the ability to flash red and amber during the early morning hours, update the technology so that vehicles aren't sitting at a red light when there's no traffic coming in the other direction and to give the fire department the ability to activate the green light when they are heading to emergencies.
Bernard said the only intersection in Charlottetown that is tied into the fire department is at Kent and Queen streets. When a fire call comes in and the trucks are deployed they are guaranteed to get the green light at that intersection.
"They would have the ability to flip a switch and have the lights changed so when they reach that intersection it's green and the other sides are red.''
As for the traffic lights themselves, Bernard said they vary. Some use the new technology while others need to be updated.
"This is why we want an inventory of what is actually at each intersection. Let's go through every intersection; tell us what's there and then we know what we need to do and what we want to do.''
One of the more glaring problems, Bernard cited as an example, is at the intersection of University Avenue and Allen Street and the Sobeys lights on Allen Street.
"Why is it that the Sobeys light and the University and Allen (lights) don't work (together)? Well, University Avenue doesn't have the timer, apparently.''
The city is expecting federal money will help do the work when the consultant's report comes back. That should happen in a few weeks.
Capital takes stock of gaps in traffic lights
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Comments
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- tp
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:28:21
The city has more than its share of puzzling stop signs and traffic lights. The previously mentioned one by Home HardWare on St. Peter's road is odd because 100 feet next to the signalized intersection there is a non-signalized entrance way to the same store.
And my favorite redundant four way stop sign is at an intersection just off University across from Papa joes. One of the streets has 4 houses on it, yet it was decided that a stop sign was needed to control traffic in case someone from one of these four residences decided to go for a drive. -
- Nate
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:26:04
It sure would be swell if it no longer took 10 min to get 1km on Euston Street.
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- why so many lights?
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:25:18
Why don't the look at why sobeys as its own set of lights? Home hardware besides sams restaurant got its own set of lights as well. Its crazyness!!
Can I have a set of lights out side of my house? I don't know how to look both ways and pull out of my driveway!!! -
- P.
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:14:55
The Charlottetown Bypass ...Does it match this description?
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or bypasses a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from *local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety. (*local traffic means: the slowpokes who don't get out much!)
From Upton Road to the Hillsborough Bridge, there are 6 signalized intersections. There should be NO signalized intersections. These 6 intersections should be over- and under-passes with on and off ramps like many other municipalities. I thought the idea of the Charlottetown Bypass was to bypass Charlottetown! The way it is now....there is NO time or fuel saving to get to Stratford from Cornwall or vice-versa whether you travel through town or around town. By the time Mr. or Ms. Slowpoke leaves any of the intersections when the light turns green, they don't get anywhere near the 70 kph speed limit which sould be 80 or 90 if there were no signalized intersections. The next red light is too soon! Then you get those assholes in their fancy sedans, SUV's and 4 X 4's passing wherever and whenever they want and really don't get there any sooner or even care! That goes for the teenagers too, in their dinky toys with the zing-zing hemi mufflers!
Remove those unnecessary traffic lights, put in the over- and under-passes and on and off ramps and you'll have some spare parts for the city public works department and likely far less incidents at these intersections. Note I said incidents which means that very few of the so-called accidents are accidental. They are incidents usually caused by stupidity.
Have a SAFE and Happy Accident-free and Incident-free New Year! -
- WIDE BELLY
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:14:38
I am convinced that the reason some people speed, jump lights and stop signs is because there are too many lights and stop signs and people get tired of stopping all the time. This is not to excuse the lousy and dangerous driving, but it does explain some of it. There will always be morons who just don't care. Euston Street is a good example. There are traffic lights every block and since they are not synchronized motorists end up hitting all the reds. It also seems like anyone can get a stop sign installed on their street just by calling city hall. There is one on Gerald Street just up from University Avenue. Why is there a stop sign there at the intersection with some unnamed street? Stop signs seem to crop up at every corner. Traffic lights and stop signs in this city are meant to keep traffic moving slowly and not smoothly. The city will have the study done, but it will sit on some shelf gathering dust and will not be acted upon and the traffic situation will just get worse.
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- P.
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:00:27
oooops! I made a boo-boo .....sorry! I said there were 6 signalized intersections between and including Upton Road and the Hillsborough Bridge on the Charlottetown Bypass. There are 9. More spare parts!
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- jokester
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:59:10
To bad this town hadn't elected councils with a plan and a bit of vision thru the years.It is costing a large amount of cash to constantly be patching up blunders.There is no need to hire an engineering firm to tell the town what they have for lights as they should all be on file,just look it up.No need for big studies, just some good old common sense and planning.(in this case a plan at all would be an improvement).
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- David
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:53:49
Good news, but along with synchronized lights the police need to hire more officers to crack down on the bad drivers which I'd say are at least 80% of cars on the road.
Seeing a car go through a stop sign or turn right on a red without stopping, no signal before turns or lane changes (most do it *while* turning which is pointless) is seen as normal driving behaviour on PEI roads.
Synchronized traffic lights are useless if everyone goes as fast as they can and arrives at the next light too soon, the city may as well save the money for something else. -
- In a traffic jam
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:39:03
Oh! MG does anyone ever travel east (actually east to west ) on highway 2 St.peters road and try to get through the intersection at the bypass and St.peters road( KFC intersection) Lights will never save this spot but an engineer and lots of road equipment might! We, the Easties, have no other way to enter Charlottetown and I for one, am tired of a 20 min. wait to get through these lights each work day!!!! Give us a break..... Peter Pan corner is a dream compared to this baby!And by the way....Traffic flows great at KFC if you are traveling towards the East, going North, or traveling South. Next Monday at 8am, take a look towards the East from this intersection and I bet you'll see a line of bumper to bumper cars out past M and M furniture waiting to get through the lights!!!
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- joe
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:38:02
About time, I,ve stopped and gone through many red lights late at night simply because no traffic is coming my way so why sit and waste gas.
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- wondering about it
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:35:16
There is only one intersection that causes me problems in Charlottetown and that is the one in Sherwood across from Leons.
When you get more than 2 streets converging to form an intersection traffic lights just don't seem to work.
Please consider a roundabout at this location, I have seen lots of them in Europe where there are situations of many streets converging at a single point. It is hard to imagine unless you have seen it, but in Paris there is a roundabout at the Arc de Triumphe where 13 streets meet and merge into 9 lanes and it keeps the traffic flowing just fine. -
- peidriver
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:34:31
I agree this should be done. Especially at the lights at the bypass and University Ave (Peter Pan Corner). Those coming from the bypass and the mall have a very short span of time for the light, while as those on the Avenue have a longer time frame to go through. Also the lights on the corner of Kensington Rd. and the bypass, those coming from Kensignton Road and the trailer park have a very long wait, especially when there are no cars coming. It takes forever for the lights to change, including the ones by the hospital. Hopefully drivers won't have to wait as long for the light to change, especially when there are no cars coming from the other direction(s).
