The City is eliminating the
entry restriction on Winter Avenue at King’s Bridge Road and will consult with
area residents about the installation of permanent speed bumps along Winter
Avenue. Should the City proceed with the speed bump installation, they will be
installed before the removal of the sign. The decision was made at the Regular Meeting of Council on May 28, 2018 (link to meeting minutes).
The Transportation Division has received multiple requests in the past couple of years regarding speeding and shortcutting issues on Winter Avenue. The City assessed Winter Avenue within our traffic calming policy and Winter Avenue qualifies for a traffic calming intervention.
The City's assessment indicated that the 85th percentile speed Westbound was 45KPH and Eastbound was 42KPH on Winter Avenue with a posted speed limit of 30KPH and that 74.6% of the traffic was flowing westbound and 25.4% was flowing eastbound.
The City installed two speed feedback signs on Winter Avenue last year. These feedback signs do help in getting motorists to be aware of their speeds but they do loose effectiveness when the same motorists are traveling the same route and are familiar with the characteristics of the roadway.
We conducted a survey of residents on what type of traffic calming would be preferred. The results of the traffic calming survey indicated that the preferred option is "No Entry" from King's Bridge Road.
The goal of this restriction is to reduce the speed and volume of traffic using Winter Avenue as it is designed as a local residential street.
The option to install temporary speed cushions between Glenridge Crescent and Judge Place was considered. These four temporary cushions would have been placed at intervals of approximately 120 meters along with sign posts where necessary and speed cushions signs. These cushions are also designed to allow emergency vehicles to pass through unimpeded. There would be spacing between the cushions for the width of the tires of the emergency vehicles. This spacing would allow motorcycles to pass though without any calming effect.
The City's Transportation Division staff believe that this option would not deter shortcutting on Winter Avenue. Vehicles also tend to accelerate between speed cushions thus generating additional noise. In most of our applications of speed cushions we receive noise related complaints after they are installed.
