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Grey Highlands completes pedestrian safety study

Report recommends a number of new traffic calming policies be implemented in Grey Highlands, council to debate contents in the new year
markdale-40-km-hr-zone
A Grey Highlands Pedestrian Safety Study recommends uniform speed limits in community safety zones.

A new Pedestrian Safety Study for Grey Highlands has made a number of recommendations for the municipality to consider in order to improve safety on local roads.

At its meeting on Dec. 20, Grey Highlands council received the study from project consultant Henry Centen of Burnside.

The consultants spent several months studying traffic infrastructure, active transportation infrastructure and general traffic and pedestrian flows in areas across the municipality.

The consultants looked at various spots in Markdale, Eugenia, Flesherton, Kimberley, Ceylon and Priceville to gather data. The study included looking at collision data, gathering feedback from residents through a survey and crossing guard issues.

“These are very broad recommendations. They are intended to give you information to move forward with changes to your policies and standards,” said Centen.

The full report can be found here.

The report recommends a number of actions the municipality can pursue to improve pedestrian safety including:

  • Grey Highlands and/or the county continue to monitor traffic operations and collision rates at signalized intersections.
  • Urban areas designated as a Community Safety Zones (CSZ) should have a consistent speed limit of 40 km/h throughout the municipality. CSZs in the rural hamlets should have speed limits of 40 or 50 km/h, depending on the pedestrian environment.
  • Where insufficient active transportation facilities are available (sidewalks, bike lanes, street lights), the municipality should implement satisfactory facilities with appropriate buffer zones.
  • Consideration should be given to providing full-year maintenance for active transportation facilities, where conditions warrant
  • Grey Highlands should monitor and review locations of significant pedestrian crossing activity (school areas, trail crossings etc.) using Ontario Traffic Manual Book 15 and Pedestrian Crossing Control Guide guidelines for Pedestrian Crossover (PXO) warrants.
  • School zones should be created in all school catchment areas that experience significant student travel activity. Where a school zone is present, significant crossings should be subject to ongoing monitoring for PXO warrants and/or crossing guards requirements.

The report also suggests Grey Highlands can implement/update policies to improve pedestrian safety. They include:

  • Grey Highlands formulate a policy regarding traffic control signage (e.g., digital speed signs) and consider automated speed enforcement (ASE). Pedestrian signage should be reviewed on all roads to meet the requirements of the Ontario Traffic Manual and related acts and regulations.
  • Grey Highlands develop a posted speed limit policy.
  • The municipality consider adopting Vision Zero (Vision zero is principle adopted by Sweden in 1997 with the goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries from collisions. It has been widely adopted by municipalities) collision policies.
  • The municipality formulate a traffic calming policy.
  • Future updates to the Official Plan and/or development standards reflect Complete Streets Typologies.

Council received the report and had a brief discussion about its contents. Ultimately, council voted to send the report and its recommendations to a committee of the whole in the new year meeting for further debate.

“It’s a good Christmas present. It’s really setting up the conversation and all the next steps that have to happen after this. It’s very comprehensive,” coun. Nadia Dubyk said.

 


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About the Author: Chris Fell, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Chris Fell covers The Blue Mountains and Grey Highlands under the Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the Government of Canada
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