A new left-hand turn lane (bottom-left) at the intersection of Carry Drive and Southview Drive faces a concrete island that left many motorists confused when the road reopened after construction this summer. Another is located at the Ross Glen Drive intersection.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Mysterious concrete islands that appeared on Carry Drive after road construction this summer were explained at a city committee on Thursday.
They are medians, officials said, and meant to protect drivers turning across lanes on the busy route without blocking those cars coming from behind.
Councillors on the committee told officials they have been contacted by residents who expressed some confusion about the two new islands at adjoining intersections with Southview Drive and Ross Glen Drive.
The were revealed after work this summer and early fall to replace storm drains beneath the road, repave the stretch and adjust curves at major turnoffs.
“They are part of our safety plan for the road, but the (lane) lines weren’t painted before the road was re-opened, which led to some confusion,” said Pat Bohan, director of city surface assets, formerly known as municipal works.
“The idea is to get left-turning drivers on Carry Drive into a safe space.”
The islands direct drivers to shift right and provide a short lane for opposite facing left-turning motorists as not to block through traffic.
Power prices
Record default electricity prices could go higher this winter, officials said Thursday, while natural gas prices could stabilize, though remain high.
Division head Brad Maynes has opened each meeting this year with a brief overview of commodity prices.
The current power rate for city customers without fixed-price contracts is about 19-cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) in October. That floating rate is set against the province-wide default average, which, generally, should be lower in the fall between high-demand periods when air conditioning and furnace heaters are in use.
However, it’s remained high, and the estimate for January is 21 cents, and 19 cents in February.
“It’s a forecast, but that’s what is being predicted,” said Maynes, saying prices are one-and-a-half times more than early year expectations.
“There’s some on the demand side from an economic recovery (in the province), but a lot of it is tied to (bearish) markets. It’s just a very inflationary period.”
The current fixed rate offered by the city utility is 8 cents per kilowatt hour, though that will be reset for 2023 when the new annual business plan is approved in December.
A typical home can use 500 kWh of power in a month, meaning every penny difference in the kWh price translates to about $5.
Natural gas forecasts have moderated, said Maynes, and while they are low now after price corrections were blended in this summer, they could return to the $5 or $6 per gigajoule range this winter.
“If there is any good news it’s that gas prices are tempering,” he said. “But, historically, they are higher than they have been for the last number of years.”
The city’s fixed gas rate for 2022 is $4.35 per gigajoule.
