Clearview council considered the scope and methodology of its traffic assessment study at the Nov. 9 meeting.
Burnside and Associates engineer Henry Centen made a presentation saying, the goal of the study is to address safety concerns related to speeding and characteristics of township roads. Analysis and recommendations will be completed based on the traffic data and collision data provided for 44 locations in the township road network.
The traffic study was proposed by Creemore area councillor Thom Paterson after a series of complaints and requests for traffic calming at specific problem intersections resulted in council approving a number of stop signs and lowering speed limits.
“One of the things I hope we end up with is a set of common criteria that allows us to – instead of responding to ones and twos for traffic management – that we had a set criteria that we could refer back to for the public – why we make these decisions, and sometimes why we don’t,” said Paterson.
The study will take into account complaints related to speed, traffic volumes, and safety; societal shifts to multi-modal travel (vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians, transit, other); equal sharing of right-of-way by all users; emphasis on reducing collisions resulting in injuries; human factors – driver expectations; disconnect between road design elements, land use planning and the resultant safe operating speeds; potential for integration of new technologies to maintain safe traffic operations; need for practical and effective policy and procures, strategy for prioritizing initiatives, within limitations of budget and staff time.
Paterson said Creemore is experiencing that “societal shift to multi-modal travel.”
“The roads were designed for farm vehicles and much lower levels of traffic, not as much tourism and weekend traffic,” said Paterson. “I think we’re experiencing the two mindsets: Our roads are fine the way they are and the other extreme, they’re unbearable.”
Centen said with long stretches of straight paved roads and through traffic, there are speeding issues in the municipality.
The study will identify traffic calming measures and policy considerations, including road design, target speeds, and the potential impacts of traffic calming measures on reducing traffic volumes or diverting traffic to other routes.
“In an area, what is the reason for speeding and is it actually feasible to get the numbers down? All of these traffic calming mechanisms and postings will attempt to do that but they’re not in and of themselves often times the full solution so you are still going to have a potential for risk and for conflict,” said Centen.
Centen and council agreed to open the initial findings up to public comment, giving community members a chance to have input into any possible initiatives that come out of it.
Paterson is also hoping there is an opportunity to educate the public on how traffic is managed from a municipality’s perspective.