Speed humps for Winter Avenue

Sixty per cent of street’s residents support the installation of speed humps, to cost $10,000

St. John’s city council has finally come up with a solution for traffic issues on Winter Avenue, though only 60 per cent of residents support the changes.

Council on Monday approved spending $10,000 to install speed humps on Winter Avenue, while reopening the street to traffic turning right from King’s Bridge Road.

After almost a year of con- sultation on the matter, transportation lead Coun. Debbie Hanlon says she’s hopeful people support the new trafficcalming features.

“There were very strong opinions, and there should be — people live in those neighbourhoods,” said Hanlon.

“When we looked at all the alternatives, this was the only option that would significantly reduce traffic and improve safety. We had to go with what was best for everyone, not just some.”

City staff looked at other options, such as rerouting traffic from Winter Avenue onto Circular Road, but Hanlon says they found it wouldn’t work.

There’s no specific date for when the speed humps will be installed or the restrictions lifted. The best Hanlon could offer on behalf of city staff was “it could be a week, it could be a month.”

A more specific date will be announced soon.

Hanlon isn’t concerned about the relatively low approval rating for the changes. She doesn’t anticipate a need to re-examine the project to try to get more people onboard.

“Once this goes in, it’s gone in. The people have spoken. Sixty per cent is what we need,” she said.

“The 40 per cent that are upset — rightly so — we will continue to work with them, if the speed humps do cause problems.”

Hanlon says as long as drivers slow down and respect the humps, any concerns over noise or damage to vehicles should go away.

“I know some people do complain about areas that have a lot of speed humps,” she said.

“I would rather put up with people complaining about speed humps than someone getting hurt.”