The City of Yorkton is going to request a left turn lane to the City's municipal airport.
The request for the turn lane came from the Yorkton Airport Authority, explained Fran Brimacombe, manager of engineering with the City at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.
"The Yorkton Municipal Airport Authority is requesting that Council send a letter to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure to review safety concerns at the intersection of Highway 9 and the Airport Road," he said.
"Members of the Authority have been informed by Airport tenants that there is a safety concern at the intersection. Some of the members of the Authority themselves have experienced the problems of making a left turn onto the Airport Road when heading north on the Highway.
"The speed limit on Highway 9 is posted at 100 kph. The road is very busy and northbound left turn traffic regularly needs to stop in the middle of the Highway and yield to on-coming traffic. While the traffic is stopped there, the busy traffic that is behind don't realize that they need to slow down to avoid the left turn vehicles.
"Many times the northbound traffic passes on the shoulder at high speed. In the opinion of the Authority members the safety issues could be addressed by providing a dedicated left turn lane for northbound traffic."
The recommendation was "that the Mayor send a letter to the Minister of Highways and Infrastructure requesting the construction of a turning lane at the intersection of Highway 9 and the Airport Road," said Brimacombe.
Councillor Richard Okrainec noted anyone driving north from the city, "sees that the problem is there."
Coun. Ross Fisher said the situation is one where it is "fortunate there hasn't been a significant accident out there." He added the turn lane is a matter of increasing safety accessing the airport road off the highway.
