Posted Apr 17, 2015, 4:20 PM
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North End Troublemaker
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: YWG
Posts: 1,102
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I sent the below email to my community committee and was informed today that it will not be discussed at their meeting. I'm assuming because all transportation related issues this year were already accounted for in the budget process, but I still feel sad that Main Street will continue to be 70+ kilometers per hour.
Quote:
Good Afternoon Councillors of the West Kildonan Community Committee!
First, I would like to preface this email with some words of praise for Councillor Sharma. I am glad that she is starting to see that Riverbend, Rivergrove, and River Ridge are in need of some Active Transportation (AT) infrastructure upgrades and look forward to meeting with you at the coming AT open house at Red River Community Centre.
Now to the crux of my email; the reduction of the speed limit (so to speak) on Main Street from Seaforth to the North City Limits.
This topic has come up to the Community Committee a fair number of times; Councillor O’Shaughnessy asked the Infrastructure Renewal and Public Works (IRPW) Committee to look into it in 2008 when West Kildonan first opened its door on Ridgecrest, to the latest time in 2011, when Councillor Sharma, in her capacity on the IRPW Committee, motion that the Public Services recommendations to not reduce the speed limit was carried. I am asking that the Community Committee revisit this request, but with a slight change.
Appendix A of report 90 from the public service to the IRPW committee regarding the speed limit reduction (link to report on DMIS) states the following:
“The Public Works Department recommendation to the Standing Policy Committee on Infrastructure Renewal and Public Works for any speed limit change is based on the measured 85th percentile speed of traffic on the street. This is the speed at or below which 85% of motorists operate their vehicles…Such a criterion recognizes that the majority of motorists operate their vehicles in a reasonable and prudent manner with due consideration for conditions encountered. This includes activity into and out of intersecting public streets and approaches, as well as the presence of pedestrians and bicyclists on or near the roadway. (emphasis added)”
Further to this quote, the reasoning behind why the reduction was not approved was because:
“Traffic laws that reflect the behaviour of the majority of motorists are found to be successful while laws that arbitrarily restrict the majority of motorists… usually fail to bring about desirable changes in driving behaviour.”
In this regard I am fully in agreement with Mr. Luis Escobar, Manager of Transportation and author of the report. But this does not change the fact that many in the community want, not just the speed limit, but the operating speed of this road segment to be 60 kilometers per hour. According to the report the 85th percentile speed for this road segment is between 71 and 76 kilometers per hour depending on segment, which is far too high. So, instead of asking the Public Service to reduce the speed limit of Main Street from Seaforth to the North City Limits, I am asking, through the Community Committee, for the Public Service to look into reducing the operating speed of Main Street from Seaforth to the North City Limits through design element changes.
Now a remark on the how of accomplishing this; to this I respond with AT integration.
The Transportation Association of Canada publication “Geometric Design Guide for Canadian Roads”, which is the nationally recognized code for the Canadian jurisdiction with regard to transportation standards, codes and guidelines, states that the speed of vehicles on a roadway depends, in general, on several conditions, one of which includes physical characteristics of the road and its surroundings. This is further supported in a study published by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, which states:
“These findings demonstrate that through careful, intentional selection of roadway and roadside design elements, it is possible to influence the running speed of traffic on a road… It is possible to influence drivers’choice of speed through design of roadway and roadside elements; but many existing roads cue drivers to travel much faster than the posted speed limit and the [speed] the community would like”.
I believe the above quote could be attributed to the design elements of Main Street in this segment from Seaforth to the North City Limits. The design elements cue drivers to drive much faster than the community wants. With this in mind I am asking, through this committee, that the public service looks at the possibility of redesigning this section of Main Street to change the roadway and roadside design elements to reduce the operating speed of Main Street. As noted by the Public Works Department in their report, quote above, and paraphrased here: the majority of motorists will operate their vehicles with due consideration to conditions which include the presence of pedestrians and bicycles on or near the roadway. Thus I believe that the integration of AT infrastructure would be good measures towards a reduction in design/operating speed of Main Street in this section.
Please feel free to contact me regarding this email.
Cheers,
Steve Snyder
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