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Nanaimo councillors quiz City staff over placement of new speed humps

Jul 7, 2017 | 2:27 PM

NANAIMO — Some Nanaimo councillors are wondering why a north-end road will get traffic calming measures instead of other routes considered more dangerous.

Two speed humps will be placed on Ross Rd. this month after the City received complaints from area residents.

Council was informed of the decision at a recent meeting, sparking some to quiz staff on how Ross Rd. became a priority.

“I’ve never heard Ross Rd. of being of this concern. But I’ve heard of Boxwood Rd. and Northfield being of this concern,” coun. Bill Bestwick said. “How have we arrived at what stretch of what road we’re going to put speed humps on?

“I’m just bewildered…we’re talking about doing traffic calming on a road I haven’t been aware has been a major problem. I have a hard time, I’ve heard about many others.”

Coun. Jim Kipp said the process seemed “very pick and choose” and wondered why council wasn’t involved in the planning process. “(It’s) policy by petition. What is council’s priority on this? Staff are just sort of letting us know they’re doing this, so I don’t even know why bring this to me?”

Kipp suggested placing cops on the street regularly to ticket speeders.

Jamie Rose, the City’s acting manager of transportation, told NanaimoNewsNOW they received a few phone calls and then a petition from residents requesting a traffic review. A study found 15 per cent of traffic on Ross Rd. was travelling over 64 km/h, beyond the acceptable safety threshold.

Rose said where and when the City chooses to use traffic calming measures is driven by community feedback. The City receives several calls every day regarding traffic or transportation issues in Nanaimo, he said.

“Any calls that we receive we do investigate and determine if there’s any action required on them. Some things we feel are not quite as high a priority to deal with as others, but we do investigate all calls. We’re regularly receiving concerns about speed but often they don’t fall within the guidelines of traffic calming,” Rose said.

Rose noted there are roughly six locations around Nanaimo where speed humps have been used. Other calming methods include traffic circles on Wentworth St. and Brickyard Rd. or road narrowing, which was done in the Old City Quarter recently.

Ross Rd. resident Holly Tribble told NanaimoNewsNOW she’s happy to hear about the measures being taken in her neighbourhood. “The road is really winding, you never know what’s going to come up around the corner. There’s a lot of deer in the area and there’s schools all around and there’s no sidewalks.”

She said pulling out of her driveway is always a challenge. “It’s terrible, they don’t slow down at all,” Tribble said.

The Ross Rd. initiative will cost $22,000, split between purchasing the speed humps and installation. They will remain on the road for a three month trial, after emergency services voiced concerns over delayed response time on a priority route. After the trial, the humps can be moved and used elsewhere.

 

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi