Four school zone cameras, rubber speed cushions to slow Cambridge traffic
Smile for the camera.
Four new Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras will be installed in the Cambridge this year to go along with the existing cameras on Guelph Avenue, in front of St. Gabriel Catholic Elementary School, and Elgin Street North, in front of Elgin Street Public School.
A report coming to Cambridge council Tuesday outlines the location for the additional cameras, whittled down to a shortlist of 10 of the 50 school zones in the city.
Cameras will be installed on Myers Road, between Holy Spirit Catholic Elementary School and Moffat Creek Public School, Holiday Inn Drive at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School, Saginaw Parkway at Clemens Mill Public School, and Avenue Road at St. Peter Catholic Elementary School.
The ASEs is part of the region’s aim to have cameras at all Waterloo Region school zones by 2028.
The camera on Myers Road is a win for Coun. Scott Hamilton, who made it his mission to make the regional roadway safer since he joined council in 2020.
In 2022, Hamilton and former mayor Kathryn McGarry lobbied the region to drop the speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h on that section of Myers Road, in the area of Gatehouse Drive and Lisbon Pines, and Branchton Road.
In October 2023, the region contacted Hamilton to notify him due to the volume of pedestrians, posted speed, vehicle volume and configuration of the intersection at Myers Road, Lisbon Pines and Gatehouse Drive, the region was proceeding with a level 2, Type D pedestrian crossing.
Type D crossings include the use of side-mounted regulatory signs, warning signs, and pavement markings.
The ASE is another tool in the toolbox for student and parent safety, Hamilton said.
“I can't count the number of times I've stood on Myers Road with worried parents and crossing guards, as cars flew by us at well above the speed limit,” Hamilton said, adding there was a near tragedy that occurred on that section of Myers Road in 2021 when a nine-year-old boy was struck by a commercial pickup truck while crossing the road. The boy sustained a concussion and scrapes and bruises all over his body.
“ASE is essential for this stretch of Myer's Road because we have two schools full of young children that are located just off of a fast provincial highway, on a stretch of road that also slopes downwards, causing cars to naturally pick up speed,” he said.
Hamilton said ASE is a big incentive for people to slow down because it is a hit to the wallet, and it will always photograph cars exceeding the speed limit.
Besides new cameras, the city also had a fresh pilot project to slow traffic. The city will install rubber speed cushions on Ellis Road and Fisher Mills Road in Hespeler as a traffic calming method.
They will be used seasonally from May to October.
As well, the city has identified seven roads that are areas of concern. Two of the roads, Main Street, from Bruce to Oak streets, and Queen Street East, from Cooper Street to Melran Drive, have been classified as level 2 — a road with the 85th percentile speed five to 10 km/h over the posted speed limit.
Level 2 roads require “physical intervention,” the report stated, altering the roadway with vertical and horizontal obstacles, including speed humps/cushions, raised intersections, median islands, bump outs and roundabouts.
Currently, Main Street is slated for a radar message board and the Tommy & Friends sign program. Queen Street East will also be getting a radar message board and the Tommy & Friends sign program, with increased enforcement from Waterloo Regional Police.
Five roads have been classified as level 3, where the 85th percentile of speed is greater than 10 km/h over the posted speed limit.
Three of the Level 3 classified roads — Fisher Mills Road, from Scott Road to Guelph Avenue; Grand Ridge Drive, from St. Andrews Street to West River Road; and Lowther Street South, from Hamilton Street to Rose Street — will see the installation of traffic calming methods and increased Waterloo Regional Police enforcement.
The report also noted, beginning in the spring, reduced Neighbourhood Area 40 km/h speed limits would be expanded across all city neighbourhoods and school zone speed limits will be reduced to 30 km/h.
The cost to implement this year’s speed management action program is $50,000, taken from the approved 2024 Transportation Operating Budget.