New lights coming to south Ring Road

New lights are on the way to help drivers on Regina’s Ring Road at night, but there will still be a stretch left in the dark near Albert Street.

Norm Kyle, director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina, said there are plans to add more lights to the stretch of road between Assiniboine Drive and Wascana Parkway.

“That’s what our funding allows us but also to be continuous because on a highway at high speeds, you don’t want drivers going from a bright section of roadway to a dark section of roadway and back to a bright section because it takes your eyes time to adjust to the changing light levels and that’s a pretty short distance to adjust over,” Kyle said.

Phase one of the project is expected to be completed in 2019 and will cost about $900,000.

A second phase will be considered in 2020 and will tackle one of the least lit stretches of the road.

People driving between Albert Street and Wascana Parkway on the Ring Road are often left in the dark as there are no lights over that stretch.

Kyle said the city will be adding lights to part of the section of road, but can only go so far because city jurisdiction ends near the end of the curve where it transfers over to the Ministry of Highways.

The ministry said there are no plans to install lights at this time.

The ministry typically only puts lights at places where drivers need to make decisions, like at intersections and interchanges.