Traffic Flow In Niverville To Undergo Significant Changes

The Town of Niverville is taking a number of steps to improve safety on Main Street west in anticipation of the new high school opening next week. Mayor Myron Dyck says traffic will increase significantly in that area. He notes they have received provincial approval to install a lit pedestrian crosswalk across Provincial Road 311 at Mulberry Avenue. Dyck says this will help get students safely across the highway to and from the school. And, a proper sidewalk has been built for pedestrians to cross the railway tracks. Furthermore, Dyck says the 70 kilometre-per-hour speed limit has been extended further west.

"The province has approved that the 100 kilometre-per-hour speed zone will be moved to the other side of Krahn Road. Hopefully, that should lead to additional safety."

He adds they will do traffic counts to lobby for railway crossing arms and lights.

"We continue to monitor the traffic counts, both on rail and vehicular, as there is a protocol by which Transport Canada will put in crossing arms and lights for pedestrian traffic, but only when you get to certain numbers."

Dyck says they have also submitted a traffic impact study to the province and are awaiting a decision on whether traffic controls or roundabouts are warranted on PR 311 at Mulberry Avenue and at Krahn Road. Finally, he says the town is contemplating a change on Arena Road, immediately west of the tracks.

"Arena Road is currently a two-way, so when you come off the highway, that will be a fairly aggressive road. A contingency is to make that a one-way, so instead of traffic coming back to the highway there, that it would only be able to go north."

Dyck makes it clear that this is a fluid situation and more changes could be made.

"Anytime that something new like this is put in, you have plans and you have contingencies to those plans for both vehicular and pedestrian crossings as you observe how, in fact, traffic flows. I know enough about working in this community that we have built roads and we have built sidewalks where we thought vehicles and pedestrians would go, only to find out it was other ways in which they travelled. We will continue to monitor the traffic and adjust as required."