The head engineer for the City of Steinbach has provided an explanation for problems last weekend with the new traffic signals on Highway #12 at Penfeld/Acres Drive. The malfunction caused long line-ups on Highway 12. Phil Kalyta says the problem was linked to the snow storm last week which put a coating of snow and ice on traffic sensors.

"That intersection has new radar sensors. They are detectors that are actually on the poles and they detect when a vehicle is in the turning lane. And, if there is a vehicle there, then it'll switch the cycles to clear that turning lane. When there was ice on the sensor, it thought there was a vehicle in that turning lane permanently, so it was giving long queue times for those left turns. And I think that was probably what was delaying the traffic."

Kalyta says the signals have been working fine in the past few days. He adds, if ever there is a problem with traffic signals, people should call the local Manitoba Infrastructure office because they control and maintain the signals on highways in the city.