Traffic lights coming to Howard Ave. and Alma St.
The County of Essex is putting up traffic lights at another intersection along Howard Ave. in Amherstburg.
Just months after the county agreed to install traffic lights next year at Howard Ave. (County Road 9) and Middle Side Road (County Road 10), a temporary set of traffic lights is going up south of that at Howard Ave. and Alma St.
Town council voted in Oct. 2023 to ask the county for a traffic control study at Howard Ave. and Alma St.
According to a report from manager of transportation planning and development Jerry Behl, County Road 9 (Howard Ave.) is a two-way arterial road with one lane in a north-south direction with a posted speed limit of 80 km/hr in that area. Alma St. is also a arterial road running east-west with one lane in each direction and also 80 km/hr in that area.
County administration concluded that while traffic warrants do not satisfy the need for traffic lights there, safety concerns are enough to have the county erect lights there at an approximately $60,000 cost.
A funding gap of $25,000 will be funded through the county’s rate stabilization reserve. Behl noted in his report that a controller and cabinet from the County Road 42 and County Road 43 intersection will be repurposed for this project to help manage costs.
“The intersection of County Road 9 and Alma Street does not meet the technical warrants for a traffic signal or an all-way stop based purely on traffic counts, however the collision history and the near equal distribution of traffic justify the recommendation for some form of safety modification. The screening of County Road intersections indicates that this location has a high potential for safety improvement,” Behl said in a report to county council. “The report recommends the installation of a temporary traffic signal to be installed, and a feasibility study be carried out next spring to investigate the installation of a permanent traffic signal, roundabout or other geometric modification.”
Behl said traffic data was gathered in September as that was the soonest they could get enough information. Construction at the Howard Ave. and Middle Side Road bridge delayed the gathering of data. He added “this location came up quite high as a location for potential safety improvement.”
Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb thanked county staff for the report, and he noted he travelled through that intersection getting to the meeting and that he would travel back that way going home.
“The angles that the two roads connect at is very difficult to see,” he said.
Gibb said he was not surprised by the amount of accidents at the intersection, given the angles of the two roads.
By Ron Giofu
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