Winkler City Council has passed a resolution that opens the door for them to discuss issues of concern with Manitoba Highways.
Mayor Henry Siemens says the concerns are related to the speed limit coming into the city from the west, and approaching the intersection at Highway 14 and 15th Street. Siemens said council is seeing a lot of traffic moving very quickly along the highway entering city limits. He added, that as more and more development happens on the north side of the highway, they're starting to see quite a bit of pedestrian traffic as well, adding to the concern of the speed of some of the approaching vehicle traffic.
"When we have pedestrian traffic, even at signalized intersections, we always want to make sure that they're able to cross safely, that there aren't concerns there," said Siemens. "And particularly as people are in turning lanes and then running into a sidewalk, we want to make sure that everything that's happening in that area, that the traffic is moving at a safe speed that allows enough reaction time from both pedestrians and drivers to deal with something that may come up."
If anything is done, Siemens said it will be led by Manitoba Highways, as the Highway is their jurisdiction.
At this point and time, Siemens said Council wants to present their concerns to Manitoba Highways, and what they'd like to see happen. "And to have that conversation be with the Province and our staff and then ultimately once we've heard what that looks like, we will then be able to hear about it at Council again," said Siemens. "And then that final recommendation will be made to the province and then hopefully they're able to act on it."
"What we want to do is present some concerns and ask them to look into it, and to be able to find out 'what is the best thing to do there that addresses those safety concerns, while still allowing traffic to move well down that road."
Siemens said communication between Council and Manitoba Highways is strong, and he anticipates Council's request will move fairly quickly.