CBS council adopts new policy on road safety

By Craig Westcott

It was one of the last items of business approved by the soon to be dissolved term of CBS council, but also one of the most anticipated given the level of interest in speeding and public safety on streets in the community.
The Final Report of Harbourside Consultants on the Town’s new traffic calming policy was submitted in July, but council was not able to vote on it until last week because of the cancellation of the August and September public meetings due to states of emergency caused first by wildfires, and next by a severe water main break.
Deputy Mayor Andrea Gosse said council had reviewed the recommendations and was ready to adopt the 56-page report and make it Town policy.
“Traffic calming is a big topic,” said Gosse. “We hear it all the time with residents and so this is a pretty comprehensive policy to be used as a guide going forward.”
Councillor-at-Large Rex Hillier welcomed the report noting it’s been a year or so in the making.
“It’s sort of been a long wait for this policy and as a result some of our traffic calming over the past year has sort of fallen by the wayside,” Hillier said. “We need to get this policy passed now and implement it. I do have one concern though. It says in here that ‘if a request has been investigated in the past five years it does not qualify.’ I’ve got some concerns there. We know how fast our town is growing, we know how traffic patterns change, but we need to get this policy implemented and start working with it. So, it’s an issue we may be able to look at by itself as time goes on.”
Mayor Darrin Bent allowed that if any major developments come up that change the nature of streets considered for, but turned down, in the past, council would likely revisit the concerns.
Councillor-at-Large Joshua Barrett welcomed the adoption of the report. “I’m very pleased that this has been brought forward,” he said. “I know this has been simmering in the background for a while.”
Barrett noted that traffic calming was a huge concern for many residents, especially before the provincial government changed its school busing policy that restricted the service to students living at least 1.6 kms away from their respective schools.
“A lot of different measures in here will make our community safer, so I’m very happy that this is on the agenda this evening,” Barrett added.
The authors of the report note that since the adoption of the last traffic policy, in 2017, the Town has conducted over 230 traffic calming assessments and implemented traffic calming measures on 37 streets. The new policy addresses everything from traffic circles and rights of way on new streets and subdivisions, to the creation of a traffic calming ‘tool box,’ with infrastructure that encourages motorists to slow down, and not take short cuts through traffic, narrows roadways, and provides surface treatments that cause vehicles to vibrate when they pass over them.