'I try to avoid it': Traffic lights going up at tricky Hunter River intersection next May

That pesky intersection at the bottom of the steep hill in Hunter River, P.E.I., is getting a set of traffic lights.

The lights will be installed where Route 2 and Route 13 intersect,next tothe Irving gas station in the central P.E.I.communityabout 20 kilometres west of Charlottetown.

"We're really excited about it," said Jason Macdonald, Hunter River's mayor."It's been talked about for many years."

The lights are being installed to help traffic flow particularly for people driving on Route 13, the less travelled of the two roads and the one that runs north to south.Right now anyone on Route 13 who'strying to crossRoute 2 or turn onto ithas to stop at a stop sign and wait for an opening.

Why is Hunter River getting a set of traffic lights?

1 month ago

Duration 1:48

Anyone who's driven through Hunter River, in central P.E.I., knows about the tricky intersection at the bottom of the hill. Now the province is planning to install a set of traffic lights there. Stephen Yeo, the chief engineer with the Department of Transportation, tells CBC's Sheehan Desjardins why the lights are going in.

Thatcan mean long lines of traffic, especially in the summer when more people are driving between the North Shore and southern parts of the Island, said Macdonald.

"I try to avoid it in the summertime, to be honest," he said.

Apart from the inconvenience, he said there is a safety risk too, "because people get frustrated and maybe take chances that they normally wouldn't."

Over the years, community surveys have shown the intersection is always a top concern, he said.

"I've been on council for over 20 years.It's been talked about the entire time," he said.

The conversation around installing traffic lights didn't end at the local level.

Provincial officials have also talked about it for years, but there were always concerns it wouldn't be safe, said Stephen Yeo, chief engineer for the Department of Transportation.

That's because people coming from the direction of Charlottetown have to go down a steep hill to get into Hunter River.In the winter, the grade of that hill is too steep for drivers to safely stop in poor conditions, said Yeo.

The solution: have the lights run eight months of the year, to cover the spring, summer and fall, whilethe lights will merely flash amber in winter.

"P.E.I.has icy conditions at times. [With] an eight per cent grade, trying to come down to a stop sign is impossible," said Yeo.

The plan is to install the lights in May 2025, he said. They will flash amber only for the first eight weeks while drivers adjust to the change.

The province will also install signsnotifying drivers that a new set of traffic signals is coming up ahead of them.