The City of Steinbach discussed the results of its annual traffic count program at the Steinbach City Council meeting on Tuesday. 

The traffic count study looks at PTH 12 and PTH 52 as they run through Steinbach.

The study analyzes overall traffic volumes and how the various intersections throughout Steinbach are functioning. 

City Manager Troy Warkentin says that for Highway 52 West and Giesbrecht St, as well as Lund Rd. intersections, the intersection's level of service is not performing to City standards. 

“However, the vast majority of the intersections through Steinbach were operating at an acceptable level of service as compared to the standard that the City expects.” 

Recommendations from the study indicate that the intersection of Giesbrecht and Highway 52 West should be signalized, which City Council already identified three years ago. 

Another recommendation is that the intersection along Highway 12 N by the Superstore and Co-op access be subject to improvements. In 2023, 2630 vehicles per hour traveled through that intersection at peak PM times. 

“That remains to be seen, as the Millbrook Market commercial development to the west has more recently started to develop, and further work is planned there in the future. That is something that the City can continue to monitor.” 

The overall traffic volumes along Highway 12 in Steinbach have decreased slightly as compared to both 2019 and 2022 counts.  

Warkentin notes the traffic counts observed on Park Road West and area were possibly impacted. 

“As during the first week of the traffic counts in October, Park Road West was still closed due to a construction project, with that road having been opened for the second week of the traffic counts. However, the expectation was that the traffic counts that were identified may not have yet returned to what their pre-closure levels would have been.” 

As for Highway 52 in Steinbach, traffic count numbers decreased compared to 2019, but slightly increased compared to 2022. 

“So overall, the one year rate of change for all the intersections counted actually decreased by about 1.5 percent as compared to the previous year.” 

Councillor Jake Hiebert appreciates all the work that’s gone into making the report. 

“It's a lengthy report, a lot of detail. It'll give us a good insight where the City goes from now, where we concentrate our efforts.” 

Councillor Damian Penner agrees it’s great to see such an extensive report. 

“This is a report that in my mind is great to have to look back and reference. It's not necessarily a projection of where we may need to go, but where we have gone and what the trends have affected.” 

He is looking forward to seeing future reports after they fix the current intersections that need improvements. 

“Especially with Loewen Blvd. and Highway 12 N being such a bottleneck intersection that we have seen year after year, it would be interesting to see the year after once the intersection is complete, how that will affect the trends of the other intersections and where we may need to focus future attention to.” 

Deputy Mayor Michael Zwaagstra gives some historical perspective, noting Steinbach has been getting the annual traffic count study done annually for several decades. 

“The City of Steinbach has been commissioning these traffic studies for many years. In fact, it predates the time that even Councillor Siemens and I had joined council,” he says. “This is not something the city was required to do, this is something that our city has chosen to do because it is an effective way of getting accurate information that we can then use when we're lobbying the province for improvements.” 

He says these studies have worked great, as because of them, Steinbach has seen a lot of upgrades to intersections. 

“Our lobbying efforts, I think they did make a difference. And it really helped that we had the data, we had the numbers to prove that based on standard level of service that we needed to have these upgrades happen.” 

Steinbach City Council approved to forward the report to the province.