Councillors like stop-sign free corner

Except for Coun. Theresa Rodrigue, Iqaluit city councillors like the stop-sign-free flow of north-south traffic on the Apex Road, or Niaqunngusiaq Street.

Last fall, council voted to remove two stop signs at the hospital intersection, facing north and south on the Apex Road, in an attempt to ease irritating traffic back-ups during peak hours.

Robert Kavanaugh, the city’s chief bylaw officer, said that after Nov. 29, when the stop signs were removed, it took a while for drivers to get used to it.

But he says traffic now moves more smoothly through the intersection, which may be Iqaluit’s busiest at peak hours. He said 400 to 550 vehicles pass through the intersection between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. every morning.

Iqaluit’s various bureaucratic employers all require their workers to show up for work, or to leave work, at the same times every day: 8:30 a.m., 12:00 noon, 1:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m.

He said pedestrians, though, must wait “a little longer” to cross the street during peak times. At the same time, drivers coming from the hospital, or from the high-rise access road, now have to wait longer to turn and merge with traffic, Kavanaugh said.

Though most city councillors said they like the absence of north-south traffic jams, Coun. Theresa Rodrigue said she hasn’t heard “anything positive about it.”

She said the intersection is now more dangerous for pedestrians, especially at night, when the area is poorly lit.