By Andrew de Souza

City wants better traffic flow

Jan 19, 2011 | 5:10 AM

City council will look at a proposal to find ways to reduce traffic congestion along the city’s busiest roadways.

The city’s executive committee approved a plan to investigate synchronizing traffic lights along Second Avenue West in order to provide a better flow of traffic to and from the Diefenbaker Bridge.

“Drive around the city and see the volumes, and the amount of idling and we can say we want to improve traffic flow through the city” said City Manager Robert Cotterill.

Under the plan, the city will use $250,000 from the federal gas tax program, which must be used specifically for environmentally friendly and sustainable projects.

“If you’re sitting at an intersection idling, you’re using more fuel, (there’s) more carbon problems to the environment than if you get to your destination faster,” he said.

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According to Cotterill, the money is needed because synchronizing the lights traffic is much more complicated than it would appear.

He said the lights are all in excessive of 15 years old and use different technologies to assess traffic flow. Synchronizing them would require traffic studies as well as new hardware and software for the control systems.

According to the report, Second Avenue West is the priority but there is also consideration for 15th Street throughout the city and Sixth Avenue East.

The idea to have synchronization was brought forward in a city-wide traffic report conducted in 2009, which showed almost 22,000 vehicles per day crossed the Diefenbaker Bridge in 2005.

City council will decide if they want to undertake the project next week.

adsouza@panow.com