Waterloo council approves traffic calming measures
Posted Jun 15, 2021 11:30:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
On Monday, Waterloo council unanimously approved traffic calming measures for five of the city's streets.
The measures will be put in place on Margaret Avenue, Woolwich Street, Dunvegan Drive, and Ellis Crescent.
“Yahoo! I move with 8,000 exclamation points, and I vote in favour of these traffic calming initiatives,” said Councillor Jen Vasic during the virtual meeting.
The measures will be split across the five streets, and include 29-speed humps, raised crosswalks, raised intersections, new signs, and pavement markings.
Costing $337,000, the traffic calming initiatives are expected to help reduce traffic speeds to 40km/h on residential streets.
Both Waterloo and Kitchener Fire mentioned to council while the services are in support of safer roads, speed humps can slow fire trucks, and increase risks.
“Recognizing that, (both departments) also recognize that there are inherent risks, potentially pedestrians and cyclists, so we need to balance both those in terms of fire response,” said Mark Dykstra, commissioner of Community Service for Waterloo.
Meantime, since Woolwich Street is on the border between Kitchener and Waterloo, Kitchener fire advised against traffic calming on the street.
The service is concerned the changes could obstruct access to homes in the area of Falconridge Drive and Kiwanis Park.
