Glen Vienneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 06/00) - Downtown pedestrians can be forgiven for their puzzled looks and craned necks.

After all, the chirp-chirping and beep-beeping at three intersections along Franklin Avenue is something new.

"I was wondering where the birds were," said Mark Plouffe when he first heard the sound at one intersection.

The "birds" are audible signals that have sounded for the past week where Franklin intersects 49th, 53rd and 54th streets. They let people who are visually impaired know when it's safe to cross.

The sounds are familiar in southern cities but new to Yellowknifers like Sherry Connors. She thought the beeping was similar to a warning from a truck in reverse gear.

"I was like, where is that coming from?"

Connors said the new signals are good for those they are intended to help.

"It's great how Yellowknife's becoming more aware that disabled people do need facilities that helps them get around better," said Connors.

Paul Gard agreed.

"It's an improvement to the city obviously, safety for people getting around the sidewalks," said Gard.

That's exactly the intent, said Gary Craig, the city's public works and engineering director.

The audible signals were installed in consultation with contractors hired to perform maintenance on the city's traffic lights.

Beeping signals that it's safe to cross one way and and chirps tell visually impaired pedestrians it's safe to cross the other way.

For the 40 visually impaired people who live in Yellowknife, the new signals will improve their ability to get around town.

"It's all part of the training that a person with blindness or visual impairment would have that allows them to get around their community," said George Glinka, regional director for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

The $6,000 project was initiated about a year ago as a result of interest from the public, the CNIB and NWT Council for Disabled Persons.