Raised crosswalks and speed display signs are coming to schools at four locations following a funding announcement from the provincial government.
The city received $50,000 to build the crosswalks and signs, which will be used to calm traffic outside of W.J. Brezowsky Public School on McIntosh Drive, St. John Community School on Seventh Street East, École Valois on 10th Street East and St. Catherine Catholic School and John Diefenbaker Public School, both located on Brannion Drive.
Mayor Greg Dionne said he was glad to get provincial support, and eager to see the project moved forward as soon as possible.
“Our goal is to continue to apply for this provincial funding,” he said. “We have the right to apply again, I think, after July. This is the first round, and we’ll be applying and applying and applying because every year we’re going to get pretty well the same amount, and then over the next three to four years we’ll have all the schools done.”
City administrators recommended those four locations in a report submitted at the last Planning Advisory Committee meeting on May 30. They were chosen following discussions with the three school boards operating schools in Prince Albert. All four still formal approval from city council.
Dionne said they chose the four schools based on who had the biggest need. However, he emphasized that eventually they’ll put raised crosswalks and speed display signs at every school in the city.
“They’re all on the list,” he said. “It’s just how we prioritized them.”
Dionne added that the city hopes to have the new crosswalks and signs installed this summer.
Prince Albert was one of 27 communities to receive support from the Provincial Traffic Safety Fund. Other notable projects include $56,104 for Onion Lake First Nation to install traffic signs around the community, $17,500 for school zone upgrades in Melfort, and $10,000 for wireless solar-powered crosswalk lights in Carrot River. The largest grant went to City of Swift Current, which received $100,000 to upgrade the Battleford Trail and Central Avenue North intersection.
In total, the province handed out $498,732 in funding. All funds came from photo speed enforcement fines (PSE).
“These initiatives will contribute to safer roads across Saskatchewan,” Prince Albert Carlton MLA and Minister Responsible for SGI Joe Hargrave said in a media release. “The goal of photo speed enforcement has always been to improve traffic safety. PSE reduces speed-related collisions where it takes place and through these grants, now supports improvements to traffic safety in many other locations throughout the province as well.”