Oakville looks to expand on lower speed limits

Published October 23, 2019 at 1:56 pm

Oakville’s Engineering and Construction Department tabled a recommendation to council the area bound by Upper Middle Road, Third Line and Fourteen Mile Creek be added to the Neighbourhood

Oakville’s Engineering and Construction Department tabled a recommendation to council the area bound by Upper Middle Road, Third Line and Fourteen Mile Creek be added to the Neighbourhood 40km/h Speed Limit Pilot program.

Back in June, staff was directed to undertake and report back on a number of initiatives related to vehicle speeds, traffic calming, automated speed enforcement, and speed limits. The West River area was chosen as the location of the pilot study to test the effectiveness of neighbourhood 40km/h zones. 

“40km/h speed limit area begins” signs were installed at the entry points to the neighbourhood identifying that unless otherwise signed, the speed limit on all streets within that area is 40km/h.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot program, staff were directed to conduct speed surveys before and after the installation of the signs.

On Sept 26, Shepherd Rd, which connects to the study area, was temporarily closed to traffic.

“Staff recognize that there is the potential that this road closure may have an impact on the results of the West River pilot,” said the Engineering and Construction Department in their report. “A number of options to mitigate the potential impacts were reviewed, and staff recommends that a second pilot area be added to the program.” 

Staff says it reviewed neighbourhoods across town to find ones that, like West River, have limited entry points and have a significant natural feature (with no crossing roads) on one or more sides. Based on those criteria, the neighbourhood bound by Upper Middle Road to the north, Third Line to the east, and Fourteen Mile Creek to the south and west (Heritage Way area), was recommended as the second pilot area.

The Ontario Highway Traffic Act now allows municipalities to establish a default speed limit lower than the current default
speed limit of 50 km/h, either municipality-wide or within a designated area.

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