plutoz
Well-known member
The city plans to curb traffic speeds on a rural road popular with motorcyclists after a group of local residents raised concerns last year over noise and safety.
Municipal staff undertook a traffic study along Snake Road, near the Hamilton border, in recent months and presented the findings, with recommendations, at a public meeting last Thursday (Oct. 29).
Acting manager of traffic services Jenny Setterfield said staff first met with residents last year to talk about repairs being done to the Snake Road bridge, but also heard a lot at the time about issues related to traffic.
“We committed to them that we would do a full analysis, top to bottom, of Snake Road and come back to them within a year,” Setterfield said of previous meeting with residents.
“The feeling I took away from them (Thursday) is that we listened to them and we addressed the majority of their concerns and there are a couple of follow-ups.”
The most significant changes on the way include more signage and three sets of rumble strips to deter speeding motorcyclists, which some in the community accuse of being a nuisance.
Over the summer, speed data from three locations along the four-kilometre road, between Thomson Drive and its end point at Beth Jacob Cemetery, south of the QEW, was collected and analyzed.
City staff found through the use of Automatic Traffic Recorders (ATRs) that 85 per cent of motorists along the north end of Snake Road were travelling at 56 km/h. The speed limit is 50 km/h.
The information was passed along to Halton police who plan to step up further enforcement strategies in the area, including the possible placement of a decoy cruiser.
Setterfield said after installing the rumble strips, the city would collect more speed data next summer to measure the effectiveness.
The benefits, she explained to the Post, would hopefully be three-fold.
“The one being the deterrent for motorcycles and the car clubs that come down and do a lot of their testing,” she said. “The second is the awareness coming into the neighbourhood, and before the curves (in the road), and the third is going to be (reducing) speed.”
Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven also attended last week’s meeting and said the flow of traffic was the No. 1 issue he and fellow councillors hear about from constituents.
Craven said in the case of Snake Road he was “very impressed” with how staff reacted to the community’s concerns.
“The nature of the urban environment is constantly changing and people are often abusing the roads and we need to continue to be vigilant,” Craven said.
“I think what the residents told us tonight was that they were happy with what we presented but they’d be interested in even more traffic calming at the north end of Snake Road, so that’s worth considering.”
Some at the meeting, attended by more than a dozen residents, asked if staff would look at additional measures such as temporary rubber speed humps.
Traffic services staff didn’t rule out taking further action if the rumble strips proved ineffective, but were also careful to note that they’d be hesitant given the possible danger to unsuspecting motorcyclists.
Craven said, at least for now, the new traffic calming measures are “a strong step in the right direction, and I’m pleased with how far we’ve come.
“Snake Road has a long history of abuse, particularly by speeding cars and motorcycles, and it’s important that we address that.”
http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/6084757-burlington-looks-to-slow-traffic-on-snake-road/