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THUNDER BAY - Drivers travelling down busy city streets could soon save a little extra time as city council agrees to move forward on upgrading the traffic light system, which will also see lights synchronized on heavily travelled routes.
During Monday night’s Thunder Bay City Council meeting, a motion brought forward by Mayor Bill Mauro to recommend that city administration continue work on a plan for implementation of traffic light synchronization over the next four years and that funds be included in upcoming capital budgets for the next four years received unanimous support.
Upgrades to the traffic light system were first identified in the 2018 transportation master plan with a cost of approximately $4 million. The motion passed on Monday formalized timelines and directs city administration to budget for the upgrades between 2022 and 2025.
Northwood coun. Shelby Ch’ng raised some concerns regarding the motion, questioning if $4 million is a worthwhile investment to save 30 seconds on a commute down a busy street.
“I understand we have traffic lights and people complain about them and people don’t follow the rules and it leads to a number of issues,” she said. “We have these rules to follow but I have a hard time spending $4 million for something I see as a minor inconvenience. Is there another narrative where I can feel comfortable signing off on this?”
According to Kayla Dixon, director of engineering and operations with the city of Thunder Bay, the current traffic light system is extremely dated and uses dial-up internet to access and needs to be upgraded.
“It is a legacy system no longer supported by the supplier. It is required to update that in any case,” she said. “There are other functionalities other than being able to provide better traffic flow.”
Dixon added there are connectivity issues with the majority of intersections throughout the city and upgrades to the system will allow city staff to better address problems with traffic lights.
“We rely on the community to let us know if detection isn’t working at an intersection or if an intersection has gone into flash,” she said.
“The new system will provide new functionality but it will also provide remote access so we are aware of issues in the network so we can respond more quickly. Some of the new functionality will allow us to time intersections.”
Timing intersections will allow for lights to be synchronized in heavy traffic areas, which will reduce the amount of time vehicles spend stopped at red lights to improve traffic flow and reduce green house gas emissions from prolonged idling.
It will also allow the city to prioritized emergency vehicles and public transit.
Coun. Aldo Roberto asked if the upgrades will see the removal of any traffic lights across the city.
Dixon said city administration is already reviewing intersections and traffic counts to see where traffic lights are warranted and where they are not.
