By Glenn Hicks

Clogged Highway 11 issues here to stay

May 23, 2018 | 5:48 PM

Very long line-ups at busy times at the intersection of Highway 11 and Highway 2 south of Prince Albert appear to be here to stay.

The ministry said there were no plans to improve flows at that T-junction.

paNOW has heard of a line-up of vehicles several kilometres long Friday afternoon and early evening as motorists from the South headed north toward P.A. and the lakes for the long weekend.

“We hear about the large volumes of traffic at busy times like holidays and Friday rush hour because we have highways staff who are based in Prince Albert,” Doug Wakabayashi with the ministry told paNOW. “While there are some traffic operation concerns, and what transpired on the past weekend is a good example of that, the safety profile of that intersection is pretty good right now.”

He added while the ministry evaluated key intersections on a regular basis there were no plans for major improvements on this one. He added even if there were, those would have to be prioritized against other needs before proceeding with construction.

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paNOW asked Wakabayashi if temporary traffic lights or perhaps a roundabout could solve the issues of all the northbound traffic having to come to a complete stop before turning left on Highway 2 toward P.A. But he suggested those options were not necessarily appropriate in this case.

“Traffic lights can sometimes bring about safety concerns such as more rear-end collisions when traffic transitions from highway speeds …and a roundabout normally has an entry speed of 40 kilometres per hour so a study would be needed to see if that would work there,” he said.

RCMP told paNOW they sent an officer to check on the cause of the particularly long line-up Friday afternoon but found no specific issues except for the very high volume of traffic.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow