Residents of one of CBS’s fastest growing areas call for traffic calming

By Craig Westcott

CBS Ward 4 councillor Melissa Hardy says she has taken speeding and traffic concerns from residents of the Cole Thomas Drive area in Upper Gullies back to council and staff for review.

Hardy said she has been contacted by some eight to 12 residents, and the Town has also been contacted by people online who have expressed concern about speeding in the area and requested traffic calming measures, such as speed bumps.

Hardy said the residents are saying the problem is being caused, in part, by people using the various connecting roads in the area as shortcuts. The area is home to a sprawling subdivision with a myriad of recently built streets and houses.

“So they’d like to get some traffic calming measures put in, whether it’s speed bumps, three-way stop signs – these are the suggestions they would like to see (implemented), but obviously we would have to go through our process,” said Hardy, referring to the traffic calming policy earlier this year which sets a protocol for deciding where traffic calming measures should be installed.

“They also complained about dump trucks up in the area,” said Hardy. “There is still construction in that area. But they did say they’re even speeding, so it’s becoming a safety issue. As you know there’s a beautiful new playground we put up there, so there are lots of kids, the evenings are beautiful, and they’re just waiting for an incident to happen, which would be very terrible.”

Hardy said another concern is the number of cars parking on both sides of the street on Cole Thomas Drive and its side roads, in part because of the number of home businesses in the area, and people with work vehicles. That narrows the road and reduces the sightlines for children and adults crossing the street.
“I think that’s (an issue) throughout town,” Hardy allowed.

As a mother of two, Hardy said she understands the concerns about safety, especially with children crossing the roads to get to the playground.

“Kids are kids,” said Hardy. “And I’m only on a 12 or 13 house cul de sac, so I can only imagine what it’s like with a couple of hundred houses. Kids are darting out, kids will be kids, so as an adult driving a piece of equipment, you have to be diligent as well and do your part, in my opinion, to keep everyone safe. So, I think that’s what they want, they want people to do the speed limit, to not be in excess of what one of the mom’s said which was that they’re up over 70 kilometres an hour.”

Hardy said the residents would especially like to see some kind of traffic calming measures at the intersection of Samuel Drive and Dominic Drive.

Another suggestion that came in, she noted, was to only allow street parking on one side of the road.
Hardy said she has notified council, and staff, including those in the municipal enforcement division, about the residents’ concerns.

“It will probably be next spring before anything happens because we’re gearing up now for winter, so it’s not like we would go out and install speed bumps right now,” Hardy said. “Our enforcement team, I think as part of their process, is also going to let the RNC know that there is speeding in the area… But a behaviour is a behaviour. You can do as much as you can, but if someone has a really bad behaviour, that’s sometimes hard to manage. But it is on our list now for next year to be looked at. I certainly appreciate the concerns. It is something I’m following closely and I’m working with staff to see if we can do anything in the interim. But we do have it on the list for our traffic calming season for next year.”