In last month’s column, I explained the goal of the GWCA to support activities, events and community groups within the hamlet. This month I’d like to talk about our efforts to improve Traffic and Safe Active Transportation, another of the six areas of action your community association is pursuing.
Members of the Board and neighbourhood residents have been working together with Town officials to address the issue of safe speeds on our hamlet roads. Over the last two years, Transportation staff in the Town’s Infrastructure Dept. have agreed to our requests to employ both the stationary Radar Message Board (RMB) and hand held Spot Speed Radar Study guns (SSRS) to collect traffic and speed data for the Wildwood Rd./Main St./Prince St. commuter corridor.
Prince Street – The Glen Williams Secondary Plan and the Glen Williams Traffic Study proposed that all seven hamlet access roads have a hamlet gateway feature to denote arrival and encourage reduced speeds. The Town chose a speed hump design for Prince St., as the hamlet’s first gateway installation. The data collected for Prince St. using the RMB and SSRS showed that the number of vehicles operating at excess speeds warranted further traffic calming measures. “Watch for Children“ and “oversized 40 KM” signs were installed on Prince St. Potholes were fixed, and road edge and centre lines were repainted. Subsequent comments from neighbours indicate that the large speed signs are having a positive impact. Additional work is planned this summer. The Town will be painting 2 large lettered “SLOW” signs on the asphalt; one in each direction. Long term, the Town has allocated funds in its 2018 & 2019 Capital Budgets for the reconstruction of Prince Street and the installation of a sidewalk.
Wildwood Road – Residents have expressed concern that the newly paved sections of Wildwood are encouraging more speeding. Both the straight-away section from Oak Ridge to the 8th Line, and the Silver Creek curve up to Ontario St. have been assessed. The data collected by the Town showed that the number of vehicles operating at excess speeds warranted further traffic calming measures. The Town has selected portions of the road for the painting of “Peripheral Optical Bars” that will visually narrow the road and encourage speed reduction. In addition this summer, 4 large lettered “SLOW” signs will be painted on the asphalt. For a hamlet gateway feature near Ontario St., the Town will install a band of red stamped asphalt across both lanes of the Wildwood Road, beside the blue hamlet sign. This work is budgeted for next year, 2018. These traffic improvements to Wildwood Road will serve as a pilot for the Town related to new traffic calming measures for local ”collector” roads.
Our thanks to the Town for working together with us to address the issue of traffic safety in the Glen. Look for these new traffic measures this summer.
Drew Leverette, GWCA
