In the next few years, traffic on Puslinch roads will gear down, as speed limits drop to 60km/h.
At council’s April 4 meeting, public works superintendent Don Creed brought up the issue of speed limits that were discussed at a roads committee.
“There was a recommendation out of that last committee meeting regarding speed zones,” Creed said.
Councillor Ken Roth said the motion passed was “to lower all speed limits on all gravel roads to 60km/h unless otherwise posted or if they are posted at less than 60km/h now.”
Roth said the committee and council spent considerable time on the issue. “I don’t think it is something that is going to go away.”
But, he expressed doubt on the impact of the move.
“I don’t think this is going to change anything,” Roth said. “I don’t think it’s going to change the way people are going to drive. It is going to cost us a lot of money, but at least this discussion will be over.”
Roth believes residents will continue to ask for speed limits to be dropped on gravel roads and said council should vote on the matter and move on.
Creed said the whole idea of using Transportation Association of Canada guidelines was to bring some reference and consistency in making decisions.
He added the municipality can choose to lower the speed limit on all gravel roads, or individually as roads are brought to council’s attention. Creed said at the committee the decision was to be consistent.
“We have this tool to use, and it is being used widely throughout Canada,” he said, referring to a study that sets standards for speed limits on roads.
Creed agreed with Roth the issue will not go away. “As time goes on, more individuals will come forward with requests that their street or road needs to be signed.”
He added, “We also know that through the application of the guidelines and software, all the gravel roads [in Puslinch] come out at 60km/h. If we are going to apply it to one road, we should apply it to all roads in the township.”
There will be a substantial cost to install signs, Creed said.
Initially, it will cost Puslinch about $14,000 – 140 signs at $100 each.
“It is money which is obviously not in my 2012 operating budget.”
He had doubts if the workload of installing all the signs in a single year could be accomplished, due to other work already set.
It is time consuming work, he said.
He added the committee recommended proceeding, but it is still up to council to decide how it will be done.
Creed provided a couple of options to keep the financial burden down.
Councillor Susan Fielding agreed with Roth’s assessment.
“This is not going to go away. It’s been an issue ever since I’ve been on council. I’ve had many, many calls over the years from people wanting the speed limit lowered on their particular road.”
She agreed in most instances it is not safe to travel 80km/h.
“Now we have a formula to back up those kinds of wishes.”
But, she believes there are those who do not want to see speed limits further reduced. She also believes the majority of people would like to see slower traffic.
As for arguments people may not slow down, Fielding stated “Personally, I don’t drive 80km/h on gravel roads anyway. I think that is too fast. It is up to common sense.”
She said she learned in a conversation with a police representative at a recent COPs committee it is not an issue in the rest of the county.
“But I believe Puslinch is a different situation,” Fielding said.
She said in addition to numerous dips, hills and valleys, there are many residences on the township’s rural roads.
“There are a lot of entrances and driveways, whereas in the north, there are larger farms properties and fewer entrances on a given road,” she said.
Fielding supported the move to 60km/h.
Stokely agreed. “We are very different than other municipalities in the county.”
He cited the proximity of Highways 401 and 6, and many of Puslinch’s gravel roads being used as commuter routes.
Councillor Jerry Schmidt believes the move “would not make any difference.”
He said people are going to do whatever they choose to do.
“The thing that concerns me most is the rationale in moving ahead with something we know from the onset is not going to make any difference other than the time it would take for council to ponder and make decisions on similar requests as they arise.”
Schmidt maintained similar speed related issues will continue to arise, because there are times residents have said the speed limits are not acceptable until they are 50km/h or lower.
Mayor Dennis Lever said, “If we can find something is more uniform and consistent around the township, we’re better off.”
He did not guess if people will continue to drive 80km/h in areas where there are only a few driveways.
However, those locations in Puslinch are far and few between, he suggested.
Lever challenged those at the meeting to travel a few hundred meters anywhere in most parts of Puslinch without passing a number of driveways.
Creed said council could pull money from reserves to do the needed signs all at once.
But from a staff perspective, and based on current projected workloads for the year, Creed said it would be challenging to get the work done in one year.
He recommended spreading the work over a number of years, which would also provide time to include that work in coming budgets.
Creed said the concern on Concession 7 has been ongoing and he there is money in the operating budget to deal with that this year.
“We’ve already started the process staking the road for the signs.”
Lever asked how long would it take optimally to put in the signs.
“We could do it fairly easily in two years,” Creed estimated.
Stokely asked if those two years include this year, or if that time frame starts after this year.
“Two years, after this year,” Creed said. He said even though the guidelines offer recommendations, “council makes the decisions.”
Puslinch subsequently accepted the recommendation to post the speed limit on gravel roads to 60km/h unless otherwise posted, and the move would be implemented by the roads department over the next two years.
