CROSSWALK LIGHTS BACK IN SPOTLIGHT

A second attempt to ensure eye-level flashers are installed at all lighted pedestrian crosswalks has been raised at city hall, accompanied by a call to fund many additional traffic-safety enhancements.

On Wednesday, council’s public works committee approved a motion to seek $7.9 million from the local and regional street renewal reserve to cover all projects the city believes are needed to improve safety but has yet to find a way to fund.

At crosswalks, that would ensure 158 lower mounted safety lights are installed as soon as possible, at a cost of about $1.6 million.

Coun. Matt Allard first called for the street renewal reserve, which is funded by annual tax hikes, as one option to pay for the flashing lights alone last month. That followed a recent Free Press series that noted the city has been lobbied to add more of the lights, which a traffic-safety activist believes are more visible to drivers close to the crosswalks than currently installed overhead lights.

But the matter was referred back to the public works committee over concerns it lacked a clear funding source. While using the street-renewal funds for a new purpose would require a two-thirds council vote, Allard believes road-safety projects should be considered part of street renewal.

“I don’t have an actual determination suggesting… that the road-renewal reserve can’t be used to fix our roads (for safety). Signals and intersection upgrades, these are all in my opinion, part of roads,” he said.