NUNAVUT - Cambridge Bay will soon be home to the closest thing to a traffic light in the territory after a crosswalk warning light is installed on Umingmak Street next month.

Municipal service manager Wayne Weese and hamlet bylaw officer Dave Taylor hold Cambridge Bay’s new crosswalk sign with flashing lights on March 17. - photo courtesy of Millie Traub

The two-sided flashing light is scheduled to be installed by the second week of April and will hang in the middle of the intersection, hamlet constable bylaw officer Dave Taylor said. The sign is intended to improve the safety of anyone crossing the street during peak traffic times.

"We're going to ensure the vehicle owners are going to see it flashing," Taylor said. "It's going to caution vehicle owners to slow down."

Umingmak Street becomes a busy place during lunch hour and after school, Taylor said.

"Traffic on Umingmak Street is so heavy because the high school and the Co-op store are situated across from each other," he said. "Kids are going back and forth."

Events at Kiilinik High School, such as the Kitikmeot Trade Show, also increase pedestrian traffic crossing the street. Taylor said vehicle traffic in the community has also increased.

"The last three years we've had a lot of vehicles come up on the barge," he said. "There has been a major increase in vehicles."

A pedestrian crossing sign already existed at the intersection, but Taylor said "vehicles seem to ignore it."

Taylor gathered letters of support from various organizations in the community, including schools and the Co-op store, and presented them to Senior Administrative Officer Stephen King, who supported the idea of installing a flashing light.

Taylor said he plans to take elementary school students and show them how to properly cross the street.

"I'm going to bring two or three classes at a time and walk them across," he said.

Assistant SAO Derrick Anderson said the sign will help increase safety for pedestrians.

"It gives everybody constant knowledge that they have to be careful for children crossing the road," he said.

The light will remain on 24 hours a day, Taylor said.