Weyburn City Council voted to award the contract for the installation of the traffic lights at the intersection of 16th Street and 1st Avenue during Monday night’s meeting. The contract was awarded to Can-Traffic Services for $183,476.46.
“Previously, we did have local contractors that would bid on this,” explained Jennifer Wilkinson, the Director of Engineering with the City of Weyburn, when asked about the selection of Can-Traffic and the associated cost. “They are no longer doing this type of work for the city, so we don’t have that advantage. Traffic lights are a specialty, and we’ve learned a lot more over the past year about the requirements of what it is for installation of traffic lights. These guys are actually specialized in it.”
Wilkinson added the company is also used in Estevan, and other municipalities in the area.
The installation of the traffic lights was recommended after a traffic study was conducted at the intersection, one of the busiest in Weyburn. The study recommended the change from the existing four-way stop for both traffic flow, as well as to help reduce the wear and tear at the intersection after the rebuild that was done last year.
The total cost of the project is $253,476, as the City of Weyburn is purchasing the infrastructure for the project, including the light standards. A portion of the cost has already been covered by $100,000 from the Provincial Traffic Safety Fund, which was announced earlier this month. The city still had $51,000 remaining in the 2024 traffic light replacement budget after the allocation of the costs for replacement lights at the intersection of Government Road and 1st Avenue.
The overage for the lights, which is expected to be roughly $102,500, will be coming from the Public Works budget. A previously planned project for storm/wastewater system upgrades with a budget of $855,000 has been cancelled for this year, as it was dependent on federal funding which was not received, and this will be used to cover the overage.