‘Moment in history’: Southern Alberta’s oldest town to get first-ever traffic light

Southern Alberta's oldest town is about to get a modern-era upgrade. Fort Macleod has announced it will install its first-ever traffic light on Highway 3.

Southern Alberta’s oldest town is set to get a new piece of modern technology.

The Town of Fort Macleod will install its first-ever traffic light in the spring.

“When we’re doing a new development or need to do any major projects, then we do a traffic study just to see how that’s going to affect things,” said Brennan Orr, director of operations with the Town of Fort Macleod.

“So, with the new houses and businesses in Macleod Landing, that would increase the traffic in that area.”

The overhead signalized traffic light will be located at the intersection of Highway 3 and 18 Street.

“If you sit there going down 18 Street, you can be there quite a while just trying to get across the highway to the grocery store, so it’s a busy area, and it’s needed,” Orr said.

The town says more than 11,000 vehicles pass through the intersection every day, and its 2025 annual safety survey highlighted concerns about traffic control and pedestrian crossing safety.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Susanne Beste, who owns Macleod Living on Main Street.

“I’ve been in business in Fort Macleod for four years, and the growth that we’ve seen has been tremendous for us and neighbouring businesses, so we’re really excited.”

Incorporated in 1892 as a town, Fort Macleod has only used stop signs up until now.

“The town is known first for the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), then the farmland and railway, and historic downtown,” said Margaret Plumtree, executive director of The Fort Museum.

While traffic lights are not new, Plumtree says the modern-day project will be one for the history books.

“One day, we’ll be talking to people, and we’ll be saying, ‘Yeah, can you believe it? Back in 2026, that’s when they got their first traffic light,’ and we’ll have to have a display for it because that’s how history goes,” Plumtree said.

“Who knows what kind of stories we’ll be telling about it one day.”

Plumtree says it won’t take away from the historic charm.

“While we’ve got the historic downtown with blocks and blocks of really old buildings, the town does a really good job of keeping that historic look to it—that preservation,” Plumtree said.

“But progress still has to happen, and it all becomes history one day.”

Construction will begin in April, with the new light anticipated to be operating by the end of June.

“It’s going to take a little bit of time for people to get used to it, but I think it’s a good thing for the town,” Beste said.

The project was approved in the town’s 2026 provisional operating budget and has been carried out in consultation with Alberta Transportation.