Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Transportation and I’d like to start by expressing appreciation for his adjustment of the speed limit on the highway from the Explorer Hotel to Niven Lake area, a part of Weledeh where we have safety issues. Those safety issues do remain, though, and what I’d like to request of the Minister is would he consider or put in place lighting that would take care of that safety issue. As the Minister knows, during a large part of our year it’s dark there. It’s very unsafe for people walking along there and we have families walking there. Will the Minister get street lighting on that section of road? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has asked if I would consider putting lighting. Of course, I would consider putting lighting on that stretch of road.
Mr. Speaker, having said that, safety is an issue on all our highways. The section that the Member has raised is part of our inventory. We do speeds on that portion of highway and we have incorporated a highway safety operations review on all our roads and we have plans to put in more guardrails, signs and things of that nature. That includes also looking at putting lighting where we have some intersections. We’ve done some of the intersections already in Behchoko and Fort Providence. So we’d certainly consider the request that the Member is making. We’d probably have to consult with the City on this also. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate the Minister’s comments, all of them, and also his commitment to consider that. I think it’s a good suggestion to work with the City and this could be done through the Capital Area Development Plan Committee. So I think that would be a great opportunity to reduce the cost as well. The City may be willing to participate. Can we expect that this would include, of course, the most energy-efficient LED lighting with the appropriate shading to make best use of the light as well? Thank you.
I’m not too sure if he’s asking me if I’d use the cheapest form of lighting on that stretch of highway. That’s something we’d have to discuss, of course. We take every opportunity to use energy-efficient lighting. We’ve incorporated solar panels on some of our lights that are outside of the communities. We have this year already, as part of our budget of course, put some lighting around the airport at that intersection. So as we move forward, I can’t commit that we’ll do the work that he’s requesting this year. We’ll certainly consider it. We’ll have the discussion with the City and see how we can accommodate the request. Thank you.
Thank you. Again, I appreciate those comments from the Minister and I do think it is worthwhile to consider doing this work in consideration through the Capital Area Development Plan. What this section of highway really needs is a safe walking path that’s appropriately lit and an appropriate crossing place. So I would ask that the Minister do work through the Capital Area Development Plan and consider myself a resource if he needs assistance working with the City in coming up with a plan to finally take care of that section of road that’s our problem. Thank you.
Thank you. I think that included a request for a walking path. I don’t think that’s what we were discussing initially. We certainly agree. I think that nobody is going to contest the fact that highway street lighting would reduce the potential concerns about a conflict between vehicles and pedestrians. There are other modes, of course, that involve a lot more investment, but street lighting is something that we’d certainly consider at this point. I agree that we probably need a longer term plan that would incorporate walking paths and bike paths and things of that nature, but at this point we’ll take the request for lighting very seriously and we’ll see how we can incorporate it and we’ll consult with the Member to see what ideas he’s got bringing this forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley. Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
