What is up with the traffic lights in Thunder Bay?
Lights that operate opposite to the existing traffic, lights that change without any traffic coming in the other directions or lights that seem designed to prevent traffic from moving efficiently.
One of my “favourites” is Dease and Balmoral, where those lights change all the time with no east or west bound traffic to trigger the lights or the ones at Franklin and Victoria Ave that change for Franklin without anyone being there. But now the powers that be have given us more lights, at Carrick and Central Ave.
There can only be one reason that lights are required here: to allow a left turn from Carrick West Bound onto Central Ave., with the majority of that traffic coming from the Superstore. Is that how we make our traffic decisions? I was there at 8 pm last night to turn south onto Carrik and was stopped at the red light with the only traffic from Carrick turning east bound onto central. Why are lights needed for that?
And once our light did turn green, the west bound traffic on Central had to wait for the arrow on the other side even though there was no traffic attempting to turn. Our newest set of lights and already they cannot work properly. This morning while travelling on Carrik, I had the green light, for the two of us turning right onto Central while twenty cars were stopped on Central having to wait. This is how traffic is handled in our city.
With the Harbour Expressway right there, why is traffic not funneled to that street, that allows easy access to Balmoral and back onto Central Ave. Why would the city put up these lights to cause yet another reason for vehicles to idle and another way for traffic to continue to be backed up. Force people to use existing roadways that were already designed for heavier traffic. Here is a cheaper solution, prohibit left turns onto Central Avenue.
Another prime example of this, are the lights on River St. at Robinson Dr. And if the city wishes to suggest those lights are needed for the 55 plus centre, then make them controlled by pedestrians and do not allow left turns onto River St.
This is not our biggest challenge but it is one that can be better managed, that encourages traffic flow, possibly reducing speed, reducing accidents and that would reduce pollution.
I have spoken to three members of council who agree that these new lights are not required. With one inexpensive sign, we have eliminated the need for a set a traffic lights. But if you keep them, can we then eliminate the lights on Memorial for that tiny street coming out of the Superstore, again with a simple sign that says, no left turn. If you want to make driving in Thunder Bay a little better, eliminating our frustrating traffic lights would be a good start.
Jim Mauro
Thunder Bay
