TISDALE — A proposal to change speed limits on Highway 3’s too fast for Tisdale council.
Council asked for the provincial highways ministry to keep westbound traffic along Highway 3 at 70 kilometres an hour until after the turnoff to the Parrish and Heimbecker elevator. In response, the ministry is recommending that westbound traffic be able to accelerate to 100 kilometres an hour just after Rocky Mountain Equipment.
“We wanted it a little bit lower than they have came up with, so we’re going to go back to them,” said Al Jellicoe, Tisdale’s mayor. “I think 70 was the speed that we were looking for.”
The ministry told the town in an email its recommendations are based on speed studies and traffic engineering principles.
Council decided to send another letter to the ministry opposing the proposed changes.
“We thought it was a safety concern for traffic travelling too fast for vehicles that are turning into P&H and into our new subdivision out on the highway,” said Brad Hvidston, the town’s administrator. “That turning traffic is going to increase drastically in the next couple of years or over the next short time so our concern is that safety, and we’re hoping to slow that traffic down.”
Hvidston said that he believes the other items on the recommendations make sense to council, it’s just that one item which they oppose.
Along Highway 3, vehicles heading into town will slow down from 100 kilometres an hour to 70 before going down to 50. There is a proposed no-parking zone along Highway 3, west of the junction.
The ministry is also recommending a transition zone north of town for 70 kilometres an hour on the route of Highway 35 from a point 30 metres north of 112th Avenue to a point 430 metres north of 112th Avenue.
“Ultimately it’s the ministry of highways’ decision – they have jurisdiction on the highway,” Hvidston said.
