Duane Hicks
The Town of Fort Frances will adjust the traffic signal timing at the intersection of King’s Highway and Keating Avenue next Monday (May 2).
The change will help support longer walk time for pedestrians and add consistency to reflect Ontario standards, Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown told council at Monday night’s meeting, adding the town wants all pedestrians and motorists to know about the change.
“This is actually going to affect people walking in a west-east direction in the south quadrant on Keating Avenue,” he explained.
“The walk signal will be longer for pedestrians going across the road on the south Keating,” Brown said.
“It doesn’t affect anyone going across the highway [south to north].”
The decision was made upon consensus of the town, public school board, and OPP, and ties into the “Community Safety Zone” the town has agreed to establish along the highway corridor.
Later this summer, the town will be changing lights at the three intersections in town with advanced green lights—King’s Highway at McIrvine Road, King’s Highway at Keating Avenue, and Central Avenue.
The week of June 27, the town will be adjusting the green lights so they no longer are flashing advanced greens, then adding a steady “left turn” arrow at the aforementioned sets of lights.
This means these will have four lights—red, amber, green, and “left turn” arrow.
“It’s a change in the Highway Traffic Act in Ontario. Ontario’s one of the last provinces to do this,” noted Brown.
He said the work involved will require the lights to be shut down for a period of time, so police will be on site to control traffic.
In other news, Brown said the town has begun its spring clean-up. As such, residents are asked to rake winter sand from the boulevards onto the road so street sweepers can pick it up.
He added street sweepers currently are running from 4 a.m. until midnight.
“Rake your lawn, put it out on the street, and we’ll pick it up for you,” Brown remarked.
