One way travel is coming to the western portion of Bradley St., after a traffic calming project was given the green light this week. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

road changes

Traffic calming, including one-way travel, earmarked for Nanaimo street

Nov 26, 2025 | 12:25 PM

NANAIMO — Speeding vehicles looking to cut through Nanaimo’s Townsite neighbourhood are forcing a traffic pattern change.

City Councillors, through a Monday, Nov. 24 governance and priorities committee meeting, approved a traffic-calming project for Bradley St. and a small portion of Millstone Ave., which would see one-way travel westbound from the top of Wall St.

Also included in the project, which was put on the City’s radar by multiple neighbourhood concerns, is a multi-use pathway on one side of Bradley St. and Millstone Ave., and a speed hump installed on Holly Ave.

“Staff go and do a review looking at speed and volumes, and this location did meet our thresholds…particularly in relation to the decreased speed zone along there, 30 kilometres an hour,” Fraser Mah, City transportation engineer, told the meeting. “We were seeing speeds in 54 kilometre an hour range.”

The western section of Bradley St., along with the southern portion of Millstone Ave. is set to become one way traffic, as part of a new traffic-calming project. (City of Nanaimo)

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Two-way traffic would remain on the eastern portion of Bradley St. and Holly Ave.

Traffic studies of the area over a 10-day window in November 2020 saw nearly 3,600 vehicles per day doing an average of 54.7 kilometres per hour along Bradley St.

A study in the same area done over 10 days between the last week of November and the first week of December saw an increase to an average of 4,942 vehicles per day going the same speed.

Mah said in a survey of the surrounding area, 69.8 per cent of respondents supported the proposed traffic-calming measures.

He added there would likely be an increasing level of traffic on Rosehill St., as drivers got used to the change, but expected it to be temporary.

“Often what we see with these traffic-calming implementations, both in Nanaimo and elsewhere, is that there’s an adjustment period. I think we would likely see additional traffic on Rosehill for the first period when folks who aren’t familiar or aren’t aware that this change has been made will be doing that.”

The City expects drivers using the area to travel through will eventually use routes like Townsite Rd., as it is better designed to handle those volumes.

Changes are less on the eastern side of the project, with two-way traffic remaining with a speed hump installed on Holly Ave. (City of Nanaimo)

While overwhelmingly supportive of traffic-calming measures for the area, some Councillors weren’t fully in agreement with the path being taken to get there.

A stop sign to be installed atop Wall St. was of particular concern, especially in the winter months when snowfall may turn the intersection into a slipping hazard.

Currently, vehicles travelling north on Wall St. can move through the intersection without stopping, while stop signs are on both sides of Bradley St.

“I cannot, from a common sense perspective, see the value in it,” Mayor Leonard Krog said. “People come up that street now, they get to go left or right. Why would we stop them? Because we’re turning Bradley into a one-way street? It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

The project has a $125,000 cost estimate, which is covered by existing road rehabilitation budgets.

Coun. Tyler Brown and Paul Manly voted against the project, preferring a second option proposed by staff to achieve similar results, which would have seen the installation of a south side walking shoulder along Bradley St.

Coun. Hilary Eastmure recused herself from discussion and voting on the project, as she she lives in the immediate surround area.

A stop sign atop Wall St. was the main issue councillors raised during discussions on Monday, citing the potential for vehicles to slide back or get stuck during winter driving conditions. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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