Grimsby traffic measure foregoes study

By Mike Williscraft NewsNow

Grimsby council approved a speed limit reduction for Roberts Road last week, despite tracked data showing there is little to no problem with excessive speed on that roadway. Initially, council was set to approve minutes from the July 24 Public Works Committee, which included a hold on proposed townwide reduction of the speed limit to 40 kms/ hr.

The committee recommendation was, “Council defer the decision on implementing the speed reduction pilot program until after it has been further evaluated as part of the Transportation Master Plan.”

That did not sit well with Coun. Lianne Vardy.

“I was completely disheartened when I read this is going to wait until the Transportation Master Plan. Even though there is a cost involved, this is a safety concern. We don’t want to wait a year because we want it to fit more neatly into a process,” said Vardy, noting Town of Lincoln reduced its speed limit in Beamsville’s core to 40 kms/hr.

“We don’t need a study when all other communities are moving to 40K and 30K, why is it that we need to do a study? Residents want to see action from us.”

Director of public works, Brandon Wartman, explained, as he had done in the past, that research and data shows Roberts Road and others considered do not meet any of the traffic warrants for additional measures.

“They (Lincoln) completed a Transportation Master Plan (TMP) in 2018. Programs rolling out now are following through on that,” noted

Wartman.

“What staff is recommending is we go through a fulsome process. Public consultation important Council can make decisions with direction, but input is required.”

A key reason he said the TMP is needed is to understand what the traffic situation truly is.

“If you review the (traffic) report, we’re seeing average speeds on the local residential roads are between 32 and 41 kms/hr; 85th percentile speeds are all below 50 kms/ hour,” said Wartman.

“We’re not seeing accident trends that would indicate that there’s a problem on the roads so, again, we can’t support this right now.”

Because of that, he said additional traffic calming measures cannot be justified and, when the projected $200,000 cost is attached, it makes the town-wide measure prohibitive.

“A member of our committee who has some traffic experience, has done some research into how these types of programs have been successful in other areas and the initial results that she was seeing is a 1km drop in speed,” said Wartman.

“So, if we’re talking about spending $200,000 for a potential reduction of 1km/hr in speed. I think we’ve communicated to this council in the past about simply putting additional signage up is not going to be an effective solution for reducing speeds.”

Vardy was undaunted.

“If it costs $200,000, which I don’t believe for a minute, then we pay the money,” said.

Wartman explained his cost was extrapolated using Lincoln’s known cost of $125,000

See SPEED, Page 3