Don Creed believes new posted speed limit guidelines “will be a very useful tool down the road.”
On Feb. 1, the Puslinch roads superintendent told council about new guidelines for establishing posted speed limits and Wellington County’s subsequent recommendation to make use of those guidelines.
The Transportation Association of Canada has come out with new guidelines for posted speed limits, he said.
“I did an example on one of our roads. The guidelines are very user friendly. But there are still a few areas open to interpretation; a little bit of grey area still,” Creed said.
“I think this is a great publication for us. It will give us the consistency we are looking for.”
The guidelines will provide the same set of evaluations for every road reviewed.
“Now that we have it, is there any direction council would like me to take or are there any specific roads you want me to start on? Or, is the goal to go through them all?”
Councillor Wayne Stokley asked what the workload is to investigate the roads using the guidelines.
He noted Creed had done an example on a specific road already. “How long did it take?”
Creed said each investigation requires a site visit. The example he did was based on existing knowledge, without the site visit. As a result, he estimated the time required is roughly an hour per road.
He said information from the site visit is transcribed onto forms, then back at the office the information is put into computer software “and it spits you out a number.”
Stokley wondered if Creed could draft a list of roads that should be looked at.
“It may give us a better idea of where to go,” he said.
For the first few instances, Stokley felt it would be beneficial for councillors to be provided with samples using the handbook. That information, would help council formulate its direction.
Creed said, “There are obviously a number of roads where we’ve had discussions in the past. Those are the roads I would begin with.”
Councillor Susan Fielding considered that a great move on council’s part.
“It spells out exactly about road authority and municipal council and the requests from residents,” said Fielding.
While it can be an emotionally charged issue, she agreed council needs to have something to make logical decisions.
Mayor Dennis Lever agreed. “It looks like it is going to work. I am especially pleased to hear about the amount of time it will take to do a section of road is not onerous. That is good News.”
Councillor Ken Roth agreed it is a good item to be dealt with by the roads committee.
“When this gets into the paper … we’ll probably get about 10,000 requests – every road in the township.”
“I’m all for this if it justifies a speed limit – or if it needs to be dropped. I think this will be our best friend.”
Creed said traffic counts do not play a role in speed limits.
“It is all based on road design and geography. Whether there is one car or 1,000, it is all based on the design and the materials the road is made of.”
