THUNDER BAY — Expecting an uptick in pedestrian traffic, the city is installing traffic lights at the intersection of Park Avenue and Court Street South.
Project engineer Brian Newman told Newswatch the new traffic lights will allow more people to cross the road safely.
“The bump outs, they narrow the gap. So people have a lesser distance to go. But you never know when someone's going to try to make a light or something like that. So, it's nice to still have that pedestrian access,” said Newman.
He said the city will also be putting in traffic lights at the intersection of Court Street and Red River Road.
“Here and at Red River, we're doing the same thing, and we have another one back at Red River and Cumberland, so there are times that they're not needed, but when you have big heavy flows of pedestrians, it's nice to have them,” said Newman.
Both Park and Court will be closed to vehicle traffic near the intersection until Friday, May 23, at the latest, said Newman. He said he’s hoping the road could be reopened Thursday evening.
However, the traffic signals will not be fully operational until next week.
“The heads will be up. The wiring will be pulled. The controllers in. It's just a case the controller is not quite in, so it'll be ready to go as of Friday, but there's some final connections and stuff like that to do, probably next week to complete the whole program,” said Newman.
He said the public will see a lot of construction in the downtown north core over the next few months, so plan trips accordingly.
The final lockstone paving of Red River between Court and St. Paul Street will be another couple of weeks and starting on Monday, Cumberland Street at McVicar Street toward Tupper Street will be closed in preparation for the Cumberland Street roundabout.
