Out with the old, in with the new: Highway 16 program through Prince Rupert back on track

Contractors were working on one of the downtown intersection lights
on Thursday, part of a Highway 16 remediation plan

Work crews from Westcana Electric, a Prince George based industrial contractor have been working through the week on a Ministry of Highways program of traffic light replacement, part of a larger schedule of enhancements for the city's main traffic corridor of McBride Street, Second Avenue West and Park Avenue.

The current work has seen the crews replace a number of the downtown traffic signals the intersection of Sixth Street and 2nd Avenue the focus for their work on Thursday, with flagging personnel on hand to help control the flow of traffic along the busy thoroughfare in the city.

The project which was first announced back in September has faced a fairly long delay, with work originally planned for the early fall pushed back until this month.

The lack of progress had been noted by Council in mid January, with Council members asking staff to make contact with the Ministry for an update as to when the work would get underway.

The Traffic light program would appear to be the first stage of the ambitious makeover project.

Among some of the features of the remediation plan for the entire corridor from the Lester Centre through to Five Corners are:

Installation of pedestrian crossing countdown timers and audible notifications at all intersections

Replacement of street names on signal poles

More durable long line painting along the arterial

Upgrades to 89 street lights converting the current lighting from conventional bulbs to LED

A bit further down the road time wise, will be a study of the intersection at McBride and Second Avenue West, with some thought being given to turning that location into a Roundabout as opposed to the current design which features Stop Signs at two spots.

The call for changes came after a number of pedestrian/vehicle incidents along the busy roadway through the heart of the city, it made for the focus for some of council's comments as part of a presentation to Prince Rupert City Council by then area Manager Darrell Gunn in November of 2017.

More notes related to Transportation issues across the northwest can be found from our archive page here.

For a look at some of the past Discussion topics for City Council see our Council Discussion archive.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review