Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Transportation some questions with regard to working with municipalities and street lighting on the highway system.
I would like to ask the Minister: What type of program does the Department of Transportation currently have to assist with the street lighting on our NWT highways and close to municipalities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would be generally a maintenance program. Safety is a priority for the department, and there were issues with some corners that were dark and we were able to put up some lights. I know the Member is concerned about a road that runs off the main road that’s been maintained by the department that doesn’t have adequate street lighting. So we are going to be working with, most likely, the Power Corporation for poles and lighting on that access road the Member had asked me about earlier. Thank you.
To be specific, yes I’ve been asking the Minister about installing some street lighting on the access road that goes from our 6 kilometre, the Wild Rose subdivision, down onto the Four Mile subdivision, and that’s been a safety concern raised by the residents, most particularly in the last couple of years, with more and more bears being in the community and it being very dark at night.
I’d just like to ask the Minister, has he been contacted by the Village of Fort Simpson with regard to identifying exactly where street lighting should go? Thank you.
I personally have not been in contact with the municipality, but the information was passed on to the department and it’s possible the department has initiated some discussion with the municipality on this issue. Thank you.
It’s probably correct that the Village of Fort Simpson contacted the department officials to identify certain locations and I’m up here in the House today to ensure that we move forward with those. I think there are about three sites there, so if the Minister can confirm that the department is working with the Village of Fort Simpson to install at least three new LED street lightings on that access road. Thank you.
Certainly the department will not be ignoring the request from the community, so I think it’s just a matter of having the department regional staff from DOT get in touch with the community at a time convenient for both of them to be able to work together to resolve the issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Certainly the priority areas for this access road have some residential houses, but the longer access towards the Four Mile subdivision, maybe they can look at that as well, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Certainly the people down by the riverbank at Four Mile have been there for many, many years, so it would be nice to be able to light up the roadway, as well, going down to Four Mile. So we’ll have the department look at that area as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
