NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT The city's municipal works department is in the middle of a five-year process to introduce yield or stop signs at about 350 uncontrolled intersections throughout the city that were identified in 2015. The move is to reduce ambiguity at the peculiar intersections about which motorist has the right of way.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Driving instructors in Medicine Hat may have one fewer trick question for road tests in the future.
The city’s municipal works department is now halfway through a five-year program to eliminate uncontrolled intersections in the city, according to operations superintendent Trevor Funk.
“In 2015 we identified 350 uncontrolled intersections throughout the city, mainly in older areas,” said Funk, whose department has converted about 70 per year since 2016.
“They’re not used in new developments, and this will bring the rest of the city up to that standard.”
An “uncontrolled intersection” is one where there is no lights, or yield or stop sign in any direction, to denote who has the right of way.
They are to be treated like a four-way stop, though motorists often believe a car that is making a right or left turn should yield, rather than the driver who arrives last or is on the right.
“The (conversions) are about reducing that ambiguity,” said Funk, who said pockets of the intersections exist generally on low-volume roads or cul-de-sacs in older communities, such as Crescent Heights and Ross Glen.
He said the cost is estimated at between $50 to $100 per intersection, and the five-year time frame allows work to be slotted into the department’s work plan and budget without the need for additional resources.
