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  • #1

    Traffic lights in Nunavut

    I can't imagine someone didn't post this already but I don't see it, so...

    They want to put a $400,000 traffic light in Iqaluit, Nunavut, to get rush hour under control. "What used to take two minutes to get from point A to point B, because of congestion in that area, is now taking five-plus."

    Also amusing (well, to me, anyway), the spot in question is the intersection of Queen Elizabeth II Way and Niaqunngusiaq Road. Well, at least I can pronounce one of them...

    This would be the only set of traffic lights in a jurisdiction twice the size of Ontario. Having lived in NJ most of my life, that just boggles my mind.

    Oh, and the Fark.com thread I got this from is fun, too.

    (GK's catalog company doesn't sell traffic lights, does it?)
    Last edited by BookstoreEscapee; 10-05-2009, 12:41 AM. Reason: afterthoughts
    I don't go in for ancient wisdom
    I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
    It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"
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  • #2
    I also heard that many of the main roads are closed this fall due to igloo construction.

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    • #3
      Quoth BookstoreEscapee View Post

      This would be the only set of traffic lights in a jurisdiction twice the size of Ontario. Having lived in NJ most of my life, that just boggles my mind.
      And to put this into scale, Ontario is 1,076,395 square kilometres (or 415,598 square miles) in size. And that's about twice the size of Texas (in the US) or about 4 times the size of the UK. So twice that is one metric ass-load worth of tundra.

      That would be one hell of a long way between traffic lights for sure.

      B
      "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."- Albert Einstein.
      I never knew how happy paint could make people until I started selling it.

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      • #4
        Quoth BookstoreEscapee View Post
        Also amusing (well, to me, anyway), the spot in question is the intersection of Queen Elizabeth II Way and Niaqunngusiaq Road. Well, at least I can pronounce one of them...
        Just curious, but why do you have trouble pronouncing "Queen Elizabeth II Way"?

        Also, $400,000 for one set of traffic lights? I guess it costs extra to get a 4-lamp unit (red, amber, green, pink camo).
        Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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        • #5
          Quoth wolfie View Post
          Just curious, but why do you have trouble pronouncing "Queen Elizabeth II Way"?

          Also, $400,000 for one set of traffic lights? I guess it costs extra to get a 4-lamp unit (red, amber, green, pink camo).


          It's the shipping charge that makes it so expensive...
          I don't go in for ancient wisdom
          I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
          It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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          • #6
            Bwahahaha! That's great! 15 min rush hour?! The horror!
            I will not shove “it” up my backside. I do not know what “it” is, but in my many years on this earth I have figured out that that particular port hole is best reserved for emergency exit only. -GK

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            • #7
              You folks may laugh, but the Canadian Tundra is the not the most hospitable place in the world. As I type this it is currently 18 degrees F (wind chill 9 F) in Iqalit. For you metric folks, that's -7 C with a wind chill of -13.

              That area of the country gets EXTREMELY cold in the winter. We're talking 40 below for WEEKS on end (not to mention the frequent blizzards and snowstorms). There's a very good reason not many people choose to live up there. Also, as GK often comments, it costs a ton of money to ship anything up there because of the terrain and distance involved. You'd probably have a heart attack if you saw what these people pay for basic goods. I don't have the info handy, but rest assured they spend far more on a carton of milk and loaf of bread than most of us.

              It might be really big, but the population density is ridiculously low. Most people don't really want to live in a place where it's winter 8 months out of the year.
              "If we refund your money, give you a free replacement and shoot the manager, then will you be happy?" - sign seen in a restaurant

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              • #8
                Yeah, it's brutal up there. Likely it's so expensive because they need to run power to it, bury the cables deep enough to protect, and get special lights that'll not break when it hits -60.
                Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

                http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

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                • #9
                  Quoth wolfie View Post
                  JAlso, $400,000 for one set of traffic lights? I guess it costs extra to get a 4-lamp unit (red, amber, green, pink camo).
                  That $400,000 includes:

                  The traffic light, wiring, and supports for the light (one for each direction)
                  The computer system to control the light(s)

                  I doubt they'll be on a timer 24-7 so I'm sure it's also including the pressure plates / sensors under the street to sense cars stopped at the light.

                  The left turn in pink camo is extra - but I think it's only $5,000
                  Quote Dalesys:
                  ... as in "Ifn thet dawg comes at me, Ima gonna shutz ma panz!"

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                  • #10
                    I guess some people like the idea, others will have nunavut
                    Testing
                    "I saw a flock of moosen! There were many of 'em. Many much moosen. Out in the woods- in the woodes- in the woodsen. The meese want the food. The food is to eatenesen."

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Caveat Emptor View Post
                      I guess some people like the idea, others will have nunavut
                      Whoever wrote the Fark headline beat you to that joke...

                      "Iqaluit considers installing first traffic light but residents will have Nunavut"
                      I don't go in for ancient wisdom
                      I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
                      It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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