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VOLUME 108: ISSUE 17
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Your LOCAL 1918!18 Monday, December 22, 2025Media | Vol.since 108, Issue VOLUME 108: ISSUE 18
www.tofieldmerc.com
Monday, December 22, 2025
Tofield Council takes steps to reduce speed limit by soccer fields
The proposed zone to reduce the speed limit from 70 km/hr down to 50 km/h within town limits by the Tofield soccer fields and bordering the residential area, which Tofield Council is in support of.
Kari Janzen Staff Reporter
Tofield Town Council directed Administration to sign in support of a speed limit reduction on Highway 626 beside the soccer fields and residential area on the southeast side of Tofield, at the last regular meeting of Council held Monday, Dec. 8. “The proposed change will reduce a section of Highway 626 down to 50 km/h within town limits, as motorists enter and exit the town of Tofield. The posted speed is currently 70 km/h within Tofield and 80 km/h outside
the municipal boundary,” a letter from Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors says, signed by Operations Technologist of the Vermilion District Chris Fundytus. Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Edwards received the letter on Nov. 27 asking for his signature if he was in agreement with the proposed changes. “The reason that we are at where we are at today is there had been a motion by the previous Council to put forward this recommendation to the MLA as well as to Alberta Transportation,” Edwards said.
Edwards said that it had been between six to eight months before a response had been provided, and when Council and Administration had the opportunity to meet with Alberta Transportation at the Alberta Municipalities convention in Calgary in November, they were notified that their recommendation was moving to the next round. Mayor Adam Hall, in introducing the agenda item, offered Edwards the floor to speak to the subject, and jokingly asked why Edwards hadn’t just gone ahead and signed the letter when he had received it.
“As Mayor Hall said, I could have arbitrarily signed off on the letter that has come forward, but I didn't feel that that was proper. I wanted to bring this back to Council to make sure that they were still okay with this, and if so, I would sign off,” he said. Edwards did caution Council that signing the document would not mean that the speed reduction would be certain. “If the decision is to sign off on this, it will not be a foregone conclusion that it would be approved. It will move to the next layer of government for them to process and
then we will find out what the decision is, which may not be final,” Edwards said. Councillor Dustin Terpstra said he is in full support of the proposed speed reduction. “I'm all for it. People rip past there all the time. It's right by the soccer fields, borders right up against the backyards of houses; there’s no reason for it to be 70 km/hr, especially with the bypass now. It's not the main thoroughfare anymore,” he said. Deputy Mayor Brenda Chehade agreed and said that because that section of road is within the town boundaries, typically
the speed limit should be set at 50 km/hr anyway. Edwards added that the reason that the Town can't simply change the speed limit is because the highway is under the control and jurisdiction of Alberta Transportation. “That is not our road, that is Alberta Transportation’s road, and that's why we have to go through the process that we're going through now,” he said. Councillor Elaine Taylor asked if, in comparison, it would be the same process required if the Town wanted to request a speed reduction on Highway 14. Continued on Page 7