New traffic lights at McGillivray and Brady offer safer access to new FortWhyte facility

People driving in south Winnipeg will notice new traffic lights at Brady Road and McGillivray Boulevard, at the entrance to a popular nature centre and educational facility.

City and provincial officials, along with representatives of FortWhyte Alive, officially activated the four-way lights at the intersection on Friday.

The lights will help people safely access FortWhyte's new Buffalo Crossing facility, currently under construction and due to open this winter.

"This improvement is not just about traffic it's about making FortWhyte more accessible to everyone in our community," president and CEO Liz Wilso said at a news conference.

FortWhyte Alive covers 267 hectares of reclaimed urban greenspace in south Winnipeg, with a variety of natural areas, wildlife, and educational facilities.

Wilson expects the new entrance to accommodate roughly half of the more than 110,000 people who visit FortWhyte every year.

Increased traffic

Traffic in the area has increased significantly in recent years, as new houses and businesses were built around the facility, that first opened in 1983. Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) said there are now approximately 66,000 people living in nearby neighbourhoods like Bridgwater, South Pointe and Prairie Pointe.

"[The traffic lights are] really very significant to a lot of people and to really the bigger picture of our active transportation network and filling in the gaps, because this is a major gap," said Lukes.

Jennifer Derksen lives in the area and said the lights will make itsafer for herself and her kids to cross the road, which has a speed limit of 80 kilometres an hour.

"Even a few years ago, it would be a little scary to cross," said Derksen.

"We wanted to come here, but I was always very nervous trying to get us across safely, so this just makes me feel better. And if they want to come biking themselves again, it's just way safer"

Access to the new facility will be further improved when amulti-use pathway isconstructed along the north side of McGillivray, along with upgrades to the road planned in the next few years.

The Manitoba government announced last year it is moving ahead a process to twin a roughly seven-kilometre section of McGillivray heading out of the City of Winnipeg.

The functional design study is expected to wrap up this fall.