City seeks grant for lights on Richmond and 22nd

The City of Brandon will apply for a Federation of Canadian Municipalities grant to help fund traffic lights to help with student safety on Richmond Avenue.

The “half signals,” which would be at the corner of Richmond and 22nd Street, are intended to make the intersection safer for pedestrians, including a large student population that crosses the road regularly. The grant would cover as much as $125,000 for the project.

The crossing would allow pedestrians to press a button that would stop drivers with traffic lights on Richmond Avenue and allow people to cross. Drivers on 22nd Street will continue to have a stop sign.

“This is an intersection that has been identified as having a significant amount of student population,” Coun. Greg Hildebrand (Ward 5) said at Monday’s council meeting.

Hildebrand said the city is trying to promote more children walking to school, and this would make it safer for students to cross the street. Meadows School, with a student population of about 650, is two blocks north of the intersection.

“There is a greater need in that area than in many areas of the city as it’s crossing a major roadway,” Hildebrand said.

A council report said the added safety could decrease the number of people who use vehicles in the neighbourhood, including people who live in the school’s catchment area.

“A significant proportion of the student population at Meadows School lives south of Richmond Avenue and utilizes 22nd Street as their primary school route,” the report said.

“It has been studied in other communities that pedestrians feel more comfortable with intersections that offer a half signal crossing as opposed to traditional infrastructure.”

The total cost of the lights would be about $300,000, the report said. The grant would cover 50 per cent of the cost with a maximum of $125,000. The city will pay for the rest of the project.

Most of the costs of the project are for the design, purchase and installation of the traffic signal poles, heads, lines, controllers and signage, the report said.

Council, which approved the application, also voted to move talks about the city’s contribution to the project to budget deliberations in January.

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the intersection doesn’t warrant having full lights, but the crossing is busy during peak hours for students crossing the intersection.

“Investing in those big, proper lights for crossing for 15 minutes of time (when students cross) is better,” he said after the meeting.

The FCM Safe and Active School Routes Program fund is ideally suited for the projecct, Fawcett said.

He said “nothing’s for sure” when it comes to whether the city will receive the grant. “It just becomes a matter of how many people have applied for that particular fund.”

Fawcett said the city is hoping to install the crossing “as soon as possible,” and especially for the school season next fall, but that will come down to whether Brandon receives the grant.

The city plans on budgeting to receive the funding this year and if the city doesn’t get the grant money, the project would “probably” be moved back to 2027, Fawcett said.

» alambert@brandonsun.com