Weyburn city council heard the final report from the Weyburn Regional Transportation Study on Monday evening, with several recommendations put forward on changes to be made to traffic problem areas.
One of the main recommendations was to establish an external truck route around the city to take big trucks off of Highway 13, or First Avenue as it goes through the city, and other recommendations are for improvements to various points along Highway 39, particularly the intersection with Highway 13.
Nathan Gray presented the report and the list of 49 recommendations to council, and said the plan needs the endorsement of city council before the plans can go ahead, with endorsements also needed from the RM of Weyburn council, and from the Weyburn District Planning Commission, along with the Ministry of Highways and Transportation.
Noting that there are plans for a new acute-care hospital to be built in Weyburn, he said traffic impact studies will be needed for wherever that facility is going to be located, as well as for any other future developments which could impact on traffic patterns in the area.
Asked about what options there are for dealing with Highways 13 and 39 with its skewed angles, Gray said one of the options would be to build a round-about there, as has been used in other locations, such as at Balgonie. There could also be additional turning lanes, or new traffic signals in addition to a realignment of the roads at the intersection.
There were also recommendations for where Government Road and 16th Street both meet Highway 39, including extended turning lanes and signals to indicate to motorists what is coming up at the intersection.
Mayor Marcel Roy pointed out he didn’t see an overpass mentioned anywhere at any of the locations, and Gray said going by the traffic counts that were done for the study, the traffic volumes would not warrant an overpass at this point, but noted the traffic volumes need to be monitored on an ongoing basis.
Gray was questioned on when the external truck route might be established, as Coun. Winston Bailey pointed out that a large elementary school is under construction right now on Fifth Street, and the large trucks rolling up First Avenue need to be gone to keep those children safe.
“I can’t speak to the timing of that, but you will have to go to the RM and the province,” said Gray, adding they will also need the endorsement of the planning commission to get the wheels turning. The recommendations included extending the turning lanes for both Fifth Street and Government Road along First Avenue.
“I know we will try to get the development going right away. There’s a lot of uncertainty I see in there as to how it’s going to work. I don’t want to be sitting here four years from now having this discussion again,” said Coun. Bailey.
The intersection of Queen Street at Highway 39 was another location that needs to be looked at, and asked what the recommendations were there, Gray said they’re looking at restricting traffic flow and realigning the intersection.
There was also a recommendation to create a “jug handle” intersection for the south service road along Highway 39, known also as the New City Garden Road, in particular the intersection across from 16th Street.
Gray said the recommendation is to create two T-intersections along that service road to make it safer for the traffic on Highway 39.
