Vote on lower residential speed limits set for 2020
Council to hold public hearing and consultations on the issue
City council moved one step closer to lowering residential speed limits Tuesday, but the final debate will spill into 2020.
Council passed a multi-faceted motion, asking city administration to return early next year with proposed bylaws that would see speed limits on local and collector roads in core neighbourhoods drop to 30 km/h and the limit on those types of roads in the rest of the city would drop to 40 km/h.
Before council actually votes on changing the speed limits, a public hearing will be held on the issue. The motion also directed city staff to consult with council members and residents in each ward on collector roads that should be “exceptions” to the lower speed limit because of their design. For example: 95 Avenue west of 149 Street.
City staff will also report back on causal factors in local collisions with pedestrians, as well as a report on what resources will be required to tackle the city’s traffic safety goals and the findings of research on the topic currently being done by the University of Calgary and Calgary police.
Even though the motion passed, council member opinions remain divided on if speeds should slow and by how much.
Mayor Don Iveson said before the vote that he was ready to lower residential speeds to 30 km/h a year ago, while Ward 11 Coun. Mike Nickel said he still thinks a better way to tackle the issue would be to let neighbourhoods vote for their own limits.
During the debate, councillors Jon Dziadyk and Aaron Paquette began speaking about a memo sent by Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee that stated the force was concerned about lowering the speed limits, but the topic sparked questions about whether or not that was privileged information.
EPS said McFee was not available to comment Tuesday, but in an email obtained by Postmedia, McFee wrote that the police have sent their opinion on the issue to council.
He wrote that while the force was fine with changes to school and playground zone speed limits, they suggested waiting on the remainder of residential areas.
“Our fear is that a drastic reduction to all speed zones could actually have a reverse effect on safety,” McFee wrote.
Voting on the motion was cracked into pieces. All but three councillors — Tony Caterina, Dziadyk and Nickel — voted in favour of a citywide 40 km/h change on local and collector roads.
But the citizen-led 30 km/h corezone proposal squeaked out a 7-6 win, with councillors Moe Banga, Dziadyk, Sarah Hamilton, Caterina, Paquette and Nickel voting against it.
Hamilton said she voted for 40 km/h, but against 30 km/h for “consistency’s sake.
“In a lot of core neighbourhoods, it’s been my personal experience that it’s pretty hard to go over 35 km/h anyway, but I respect the decision council made,” she said.
Liveable Streets Edmonton, the citizen group that lobbied council to adopt the what it coined as the “YEG Core Zone,” has been adamant that the success of the slow zone requires changes to street design with traffic-calming measures like bumped out curbs or raised crosswalks.
Liveable Street’s Julie Kusiek said she’s happy the city is finally moving forward on this.
“City council made the right choice today,” she said.
Those elements, plus signage for the new speeds, are going to cost money, but council also heard that a possible source for funding the work is the $51-million federal gas tax top-up the city is receiving. The money was announced in March and council is set to debate how to spend it in June.