The Town of the Blue Mountains (TBM) mayor recently sent two requests to the province to help improve safety and road conditions along Highway 26.
“This week, I have written to Premier Ford and the ministers to consider reducing the speed limit on Highway 26 through Craigleith to 50 km/h on a temporary basis,” says TBM Mayor Alar Soever.
“We are getting a lot more traffic up here,” he continues. “There are a lot more people trying to get to our beaches and it has become a safety issue.”
Highway 26, which falls under the management of the Ministry of Transportation, currently has a posted speed limit of 80 km/h.
“We are looking at a speed of 50 km/h for a distance of 300-metres west of the Craigleith Provincial Park entrance, to the east side of the village of Craigleith. So, that entire shoreline stretch,” explains Soever.
Following a busy weekend at Northwinds Beach, which sits along Highway 26, TBM council members and staff met on Monday morning to discuss the situation and consider new safety measures.
“Incidents are occurring and I think slowing down the speed of traffic would help. And, there will be enforcement,” he says.
TBM has also sent a request asking to adjust 700-metres of beachfront at Craigleith Provincial Park from camping to day-use.
“Certainly, converting some of that from camping to day-use, would greatly increase the capacity of our beaches,” says Soever.
He adds that the park already has the appropriate parking areas and fencing to manage the crowds.
The town has been trying to manage a number of popular summer spots across TBM with a limited number of bylaw staff, coupled with increased monitoring requirements due to COVID-19 safety protocols.
“You have to give our bylaw officers a lot of credit,” Soever adds. “The officers are out there in their uniform in the 30+ degree heat, dealing with a lot of frustrated people. They were doing a great job at calming people down and directing them to other locations.”
TBM is hoping to have 12 bylaw officers on staff this summer, up from four.
Soever says the town has hired two additional bylaw officers and sent out four other job offers out to prospective employees.
TBM also plans to initiate both its ambassador program and a paid-parking pilot program in early August to aid the bylaw department in crowd control.
