MOOSE JAW — City hall has updated its transportation master plan (TMP) for the first time in 12 years, with the new document urging the municipality to complete upgrades to First Avenue Northwest as the old document suggested.
First Avenue Northwest is an important north-south arterial road parallel to Main Street that transitions from downtown into a residential road that runs north past Central Collegiate, the document said.
The old TMP, completed in 2012, recommended changing the road’s cross-section to include adding “bulb-outs” at street corners to slow traffic and improve pedestrian crossings, the report continued. The city initiated this work by installing signs but failed to carry out the project fully.
The current transportation master plan revisits the goals for First Avenue Northwest between High Street East and Caribou Street East and makes several recommendations to complete work from the previous TMP and solidify this corridor’s operations.
Those recommendations include:
- Re-painting lines with a 3.5-metre centre two-way left-turn lane
- Ensuring signs and paint markings identify the street’s operation as a two-way left-turn lane and a separate through/right-turn lane
- Providing a dashed white line demarcating a 2.5-metre parking lane
- Providing bulb-outs at intersections to provide shorter crossing distances for pedestrians and better control traffic speeds along the corridor
“These recommendations will help change the character of this important road and serve to clarify intended traffic operations,” the report added.
City council received the document during its June 24 regular meeting. Bruce Belmore and Destiny Piper from consulting firm KGS Group gave a comprehensive overview of the new TMP since their firm worked with city hall to develop the document.
Other recommendations from the TMP include upgrading four locations along Thatcher Drive to make it easier for motorists to navigate and better protect pedestrians
It cost the city $250,000 to have KGS create the new TMP.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, July 8.
