OLDS — An engineering report is planned to examine how best to improve traffic light signalization along Highway 27 so that the drive along there is as efficient as possible, chief administrative officer Brent Williams says.
Williams said the plan, hatched this past summer, is for Alberta Transportation to hire a consultant to undertake the study, which is expected to be completed by the end of February.
During the Oct. 10 council meeting, Williams said once he receives that report, he will let council know “what can be done free of charge and what they would want money from us to pay for.”
“We have no control over the traffic lights on Highway 27. We just pay for them when (Alberta) Transportation says they have to go up,” Williams said.
“But I’m sure as you’ve probably noticed, the journey through town can be rather cumbersome at times.”
He listed several examples:
• The left-turn signal heading south on 70th Avenue that Williams said "really makes no sense because there’s no one there;”
• Moments when the left-turn signal on Highway 2A at Highway 27 "disappears.” Williams said that “confuses everyone;”
• A lack of synchronicity between the railway tracks and the other lights, “so that you can hit potentially three or four in a row,” he said.
Williams said some issues, like the walk signal at Cornerstone that goes on when no one presses the button, can be fairly easily fixed by disabling it. He said that problem adds about 15 seconds to the journey of westbound traffic.
However, Williams said other issues, like synchronizing the traffic lights at the Grouchy Daddy’s/A & W intersection (Highway 27 at 51st Avenue) are trickier.
“We’re unsure if the GPS exists in those lights because for railways to speak to traffic lights, they have to have GPS capability,” he said.
“We know the traffic lights right at the railway on 50th Ave. have the synchronicity, but we have to investigate if the other ones do, because no one has any records (of that).”
Council voted to receive that heads-up from Williams as information.
