A traffic bottleneck causing road rage was a topic of discussion at Monday's Battleford town council meeting.
The intersection of Highway 4 and 35th Street was the subject of a letter from residents Tim and Judy Pruden, who suggested a few changes could make the traffic flow more smoothly and safely.
"We have both observed and been victims of 'road rage' at this specific intersection due to the inability to safely merge onto the highway, impatient drivers behind us, swerving around our vehicles, etc. while we wait for a safe moment to try to pull out and then squeeze into a spot in the west (northbound) lane," they wrote.
Councillors agreed with the Prudens' conclusion that if northbound traffic on Highway 4 was instructed to merge left well before reaching 35th Street it would free up the right lane for traffic coming onto the highway.
Mayor Derek Mahon went so far as to say the same premise could be applied to the 29th Street intersection, and councillors want to review the whole situation, especially as regards the possibility of roadside signs and even signs painted on the highway surface.
The speed of the traffic was also discussed. In their letter, the Prudens wrote, "The speed limit is now 80 km/hr from 29th St. to north of the 35th St. corner, and then 60 km/hr heading northbound under the underpass. It does not make sense to have to go from a complete stop, turn to obtain a speed of 80 km/hr, merge and then reduce your speed again to go under the underpass all within a very short distance. We suggest that you extend this slower speed limit to south of the 35th St. corner to allow safer merging."
Councillor Susan McLean Tady said, "I really like the idea about reducing speed to 60 k there, I think that would definitely make it safer. We've seen road rage increase greatly."
The Prudens also suggested changing the stop sign to a yield sign.
Mayor Mahon said many of these items have been brought up before. He would like to have documentation from the engineers who designed the highway stating how and why they determined their design.
Administrator Sheryl Ballendine confirmed the stop sign at 35th was in the design by the engineers.
Councillor David George, who uses the intersection in question approximately six times a day, said he doesn't have a problem with the stop sign because there are drivers out there who are uncomfortable about entering the highway when the traffic is coming toward them that quickly. He also liked the idea of arrows painted on the highway, but said drivers need to have patience.
"People, just have some patience if you're late going to work you're late because you left your house late, not because there are four people ahead of you in the line."
Councillor Ames Leslie said there's no actual merging lane there so a yield sign probably wouldn't be allowed.
Councillor Doug Laing said until the Ministry of Highways does something with the overpass to get rid of the bottleneck, it's always going to be an issue.
Councillor George added, if the highways department had had the foresight, instead of going underneath the overpass they could have gone the overland route that was there originally.
"They could have twinned that and it would have been way simpler," he said. "But they cheaped out on it, Highways did, in design and everything."
Council will be reviewing the issue, although the jurisdiction over the highway through town is in transition. The provincial government has recently changed policy regarding urban highway connectors and is re-assuming full jurisdiction over sections of highway through eight towns in Saskatchewan, Battleford being one of them.
