Intersection at King & Main in Sackville during a quiet time in early afternoon, but traffic often backs up on King St. during busy weekday mornings. The crosswalk has overhead flashing signals and white, overhead pedestrian signs, but no yellow, fluorescent signs at eye-level

Should the Town of Tantramar install traffic lights at the sometimes-busy intersection of King and Main Streets in Sackville?

That question came up for the second time today during the third in a series of meetings in which town managers have been soliciting ideas, opinions, comments and questions from residents in the newly amalgamated town.

The issue of improving crosswalk safety also came up again as Tantramar resident Percy Best continued his eight-year campaign to get yellow, fluorescent pedestrian signs installed at every crosswalk in Sackville.

Traffic lights

A resident who was not present had submitted the traffic signals question in advance noting that it can be dangerous, especially on weekday mornings, when vehicles back up on King St. as drivers try to turn onto Main.

Town Engineer Jon Eppell

Town Engineer Jon Eppell responded that a study conducted about 10 years ago concluded that traffic lights were not warranted then.

“That’s not to say that we can’t go back and study it again,” he said, “but if we were to look at that, we’d want to look at the corridor.”

He explained that would include assessing traffic in that whole area including the driveways at the Drew Nursing Home and Sackville’s Civic Centre as well as the intersections at Salem Street, Wright Street and the one at Mallard Drive.

“We don’t right now have it in our plans to go and study that, but it’s something we can put in our plans in the next several years,” Eppell said.

Crosswalk signs & safety

The Mt. A. crosswalk across Main St. from the student residences on the right to the main campus. Note the yellow, fluorescent pedestrian signs at eye level on either side

Sackville resident Percy Best said about eight years ago, he and former Bylaw Enforcement Officer Paul Embree started a campaign to get yellow-green, fluorescent pedestrian signs installed at eye-level beside every crosswalk.

“This is a warning sign,” he said. “White signs, which are used still in a lot of municipalities, are information signs, not a warning sign.”

Percy Best

Best said all but three crosswalks in downtown Sackville now have the yellow signs and he urged the town to complete installing them on all crosswalks including the one that crosses Main Street at King.

In December 2022, a Mt. A. student was critically injured in that crosswalk and the driver who hit him was later fined $1200 for driving without due care and attention.

Best pointed out the yellow-green fluorescent pedestrian signs have been installed on all crosswalks in Sussex as well as in Oxford and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

“Traffic signs are one of my favourite things,” Jon Eppell responded.

“People that are going to ignore the law in driving the speed of the road are going to ignore the signs just as easily.”

He added that Canadian standards for crosswalk signs reserve the yellow ones primarily for school zones.

“If we put them everywhere, people will not recognize that ‘hey, this one’s different, this one’s special,'” he said. “So, we don’t want to make them all yellow.”

Mt. A. crosswalk

When discussion turned to the Mt. A. crosswalk on Main Street where traffic sometimes backs up as students cross between the main campus and the dining hall and residences, Jon Eppell said the ideal solution would be to install a red/green traffic light for motorists and a walk/stop signal for pedestrians.

“Not an inexpensive solution, we have had discussions with Mt. A.,” he said, adding that so far, the university hasn’t been willing to contribute financially.

Later, when Percy Best suggested an overhead pedestrian walkway, Eppell said he had also raised that idea with Mt. A., but once again, the university indicated it didn’t have money to spend on it.

Councillor Bruce Phinney mentioned a comprehensive 2006 study overseen by former Mt. A. Professor Mike Fox.

Among other things, that study recommended a crossing guard, but, as Phinney pointed out, the university wasn’t willing to pay for that either.