Changes proposed for Mitchell traffic

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This article was published 12/06/2019 (1773 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some major changes to the way traffic flows could soon be coming to the Mitchell area.

During a Hanover council meeting on Wednesday, council presented a draft proposal that has already been approved by Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation.

The proposal recommends a number of changes in Mitchell around Highway 52, including setting up traffic lights to control traffic at the corner of Highway 52 and Centre Street, and also setting up a dedicated pedestrian crossing at the corner of Highway 52 and Ash Street that would include traffic light controls to stop traffic and allow pedestrians to cross.

“There will be a button pedestrians would have to press and it would activate a set of street lights to stop traffic, because we feel like people often don’t stop when it’s the flashing amber lights,” Hanover CAO Luc Lahaie said at the meeting.

The changes prevent vehicles from turning off Ash Street onto Highway 52 and would also prevent traffic access to and from Lilac Street.

“So a lot of traffic will now be funneled to Centre Street where those traffic lights will be,” Lahaie said.

He added the LUD of Mitchell would bear some of the cost for pathways that he said would direct pedestrians to different areas in Mitchell, but the majority of the work would be paid for by the province.

In the proposal, the speed limit on Highway 52 in Mitchell would remain at 80 km/h.

“They will keep the limit at 80, but the street lights will essentially slow the traffic down,” Lahaie said. “The province has said there is no way they will allow anything slower than 80, because provincial highways are there to move traffic and not to slow down traffic.”

Lahaie said the plan will need approval from the LUD of Mitchell and then Hanover council, but he said he expected those approvals will go forward.

If approved, Lahaie said residents could expect to see traffic lights set up at the corner of Highway 52 and Centre Street as early as this fall, and the other proposed changes completed over a three year period.