Two new pedestrian crossing lights were installed by town crews last week to help pedestrians cross busy roadways in town.
The lights were installed at 54 Street and 55 Avenue adjacent to Hartmann Green and 57 Avenue and 60 Street adjacent to a paved trail extension that was completed last year by the town.
Larry Wright, the town's director of operations, said the town chose the one adjacent to Hartmann Green based on a traffic study done by Sheriff Peter Carr that identified that crossing as a busy one. The town chose the other location based on the fact that because it's near a busy trail that gets extensively used – and there is no other traffic calming measures in that area – that it would be prudent to put in a pedestrian light.
“We did one based on the (sheriffs') analysis of our zones … and the other one, being a new road … without street lights in that zone, it wasn't really on the (sheriffs' list of busy traffic areas), but it was on our infrastructure vision and the people that are starting to utilize the trail crossing, it's just going up … all the time. It's a well-used trail connection right now,” Wright said.
Both the installations use solar power rather than electricity, saving the town roughly $70,000 to $90,000 per installation, due to additional power sources needed for each installation. Each solar-powered installation cost the town $10,000.
