Funding has now been allocated to proceed with traffic signals at the intersection of 100 Avenue and Grandin Avenue East. – file photo
by Colin Smith
Installation of traffic lights at the intersection of Grandin Drive and Hwy 642 was approved for next year by Morinville Town Council.
Sixty per cent of the $650,000 tab for the intersection signalization would be picked up by the province in the form of a $390,000 grant, while the remaining $260,000 is to be drawn from Morinville’s Transportation Off-Site Levy Reserves.
At its regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 12, council unanimously passed a motion amending the town’s 2023 capital budget to include the project.
The province has given preliminary approval to the signalization and agreed to pay 60 per cent of its costs once a memorandum of agreement is finalized.
The signalization project’s design work is scheduled for the remainder of this year and the beginning of 2024, with construction planned for next summer.
Along with the supply and installation of traffic signals and related infrastructure, project elements will include utility coordination and relocations, minor road configuration and adjustments, testing and commissioning of the signals and coordination with the province and other stakeholders.
Moving the motion to go ahead with the project, Councillor Stephen Dafoe thanked the province for putting up 60 per cent of the funding, also thanking everyone involved in the lengthy process of dealing with the intersection problem.
“Also thanks to the public who not only protested on the corner, but spoke to the MLAs, spoke to the province, spoke to Alberta Transportation, spoke to the councillors to get this done,” he said.
Councillor Ray White noted that this signalization for the intersection, with its pedestrian crossing safety and traffic flow confusion issues, has been a long time coming.
“We heard it on the doorsteps, and we heard it at the forums, “ he said. “Everybody was in favour of it.“
White thanked council colleagues for their behind-the-scenes efforts in support of signalization.
“Whatever it took to get it done we managed to secure it,” he said. “Thankfully we’re on the right track and I’m looking forward to it starting up in the summertime.”
In response to a question from Councillor Jen Anheliger, Infrastructure Services Manager Jordan Betteridge expressed his confidence in the budget for the project being sufficient to cover its costs, having a healthy fund contingency built in.
“That doesn’t mean that things couldn’t go sideways,” he admitted if there were unexpected circumstances.
Morinville’s Transportation Off-Site Levy Reserve, from which the town’s $260,000 share for the project will be taken, currently contains $273,323.
The reserve is funded by levies on subdivisions and developments for transportation projects that will benefit them.
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