Let there be lights in Neepawa

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2011 (5556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province clearly is not seeing the light in Neepawa.

Senior local politicians have been making residents’ concerns known over the need to traffic lights at the busy intersection of provincial highways 5 and 16 just west of Neepawa.

But those please have fallen on deaf ears in the Manitoba legislature and at the Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation department.

As you’ll have read in yesterday’s Brandon Sun, Neepawa Mayor Ron Forsman said he and council back an effort by MLA Stu Briese (PC- Ste. Rose) to lobby the province for the lights.

“We desperately need signal lights in there,” Forsman said. “It’s absolutely getting treacherous as can be. It has been for a long time and just gets worse.”

The intersection is currently controlled by a stop sign that faces traffic southbound on Highway 5, and by a second stop sign that faces northbound traffic on Dominion Road.

Highway 16, also known as the Yellowhead Highway, is already crammed with semi-trailer traffic. Highway 5 is a major north-south route in the area.

“I’ve seen people sit there for 20 minutes,” Briese said, adding traffic homebound from Dauphin’s Countryfest has been known to form a line of up to a mile.

The area has also attracted some new commercial operations that just add to the traffic congestion.

About a year ago, Briese started a petition that gathered at least 1,500 signatures. He has read portions of it at the legislature for about a year, so the government is aware of the call for the lights.

But there’s still no sign of a signal.

While there have been no recent deaths from collisions, the corner has been the scene of a number of fender-benders.

Former Neepawa mayor Bob Durston said the town has lobbied for traffic lights for years. It’s amazing, he said, that there hasn’t been a deadly crash.

“None of us wants to be the fatality that triggers traffic lights,” Durston said, adding appropriate turning lanes will also be needed on Highway 16 if lights are installed.

A spokesman for Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation told a Sun reporter that the corner doesn’t need traffic lights based on traffic counts done in July 2010.

We suggest that sometimes dry numbers don’t tell the whole story.

We don’t believe these three community leaders are simply making this story up to get attention.

They know the area well, have listened to residents and have serious concerns.

Why the province would choose to listen to a bureaucrat citing statistics over the voices of an entire community is beyond our comprehension.

We just hope somebody doesn’t have to be seriously injured or die a the intersection before the province will finally take action.