The intersection of Eighth Street and Second Avenue SE is a top candidate for traffic-calming measures, council heard Monday, after a traffic counter recorded vehicles travelling at up to 80 kilometres per hour in the residential area.--News Photo Collin Gallant
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Traffic calming measures will be installed downtown, on the Southeast Hill and Ranchlands over the next year in hopes of reducing speeding in residential areas or improve pedestrian safety.
That will include larger sidewalks, speed humps and even new islands in the roadway of intersections to create a “mini round-about,” council heard Monday, along with a first look at upgrades to the Division Avenue S. corridor.
For round-abouts, an initial pilot location will be at the intersection of Eighth Street and Second Avenue SE, one block north of Kiwanis Central Park, where city traffic counters have recorded vehicles travelling up to 80 kilometres per hour on the residential road.
“Most communities in North America are exploring the idea of mini round-abouts or traffic circles, and we’ll give them a try,” said city assets director Pat Bohan. “They’re very simple calming systems and in conjunction with a sewer project, so we’re not building up the road twice.”
The concept is that placing a small island in the middle of the roadway forces drivers to navigate the slight turn. Studies show it can reduce top speeds by up to 14 kilometres per hour, leading to less vehicle noise and better flow for cross-traffic.
Elsewhere, speed humps will be added on Ranchlands Boulevard for a two-year period, over which time the effect on speed will be monitored.
More gradual than a traditional parking lot speed bump, the raised humps encourage drivers to reduce speed and will be sequenced to discourage quick acceleration and breaking.
Such a hump was installed on a service road to Dunmore Road several years ago to direct rain storm runoff, said Bohan, but the dimensions and effect are similar.
Focusing on pedestrian safety, the city will install corner bulbs to reduce lane width at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Third Street.
“We’re going to tackle some of the pedestrian challenges in our downtown core … with pilot projects,” said Bohan. “It expands the size of the corner, which reduces the time a pedestrian is on the active roadway.”
The city will also repave Division Avenue south in 2024 and at that point widen it with a three-metre wide pathway on one side from Old Cemetery Hill to Third Street.
That dividing line between the southeast and southwest hill features several skewed intersections, but the “bulk of the road will be at the same level,” said Bohan.
Corner bulbs are also planned.
