Traffic Calming Studies for Dunvegan Drive, Margaret Avenue and Woolwich Street

The speed of the traffic on Woolwich Street is out of hand. I have seen cars travel in excess of 80klm most every day. There have been suggestions in the past given to the city. Maybe the city needs to start listening to the people that live on the street. I invite the city to come and see how the traffic behaves. It will be an eye opener.

Margaret Avenue North members of the public tried years ago to get consideration for traffic calming measures out of concern for the safety of their families. Then, as now, the speed and volume of traffic is not safe for a residential area especially at peak travel hours. Late at night the road can be a raceway for motorcycles. We were told years ago that , as an emergency through-way and for snowplows etc that traffic calming was not an option. Can't remember the last time I saw a firetruck go by and, I am sure snowplows can somehow navigate slower and safer streets. I do not see the argument being valid. There are three schools in the area and a mix of demographics so, students, young children, people walking their pets, senior citizens ...are all at risk near the Margaret Avenue Speedway . Bike lanes, speed bumps, narrowing of roads seems to be more and more common in other areas of the city and serve to increase the quality of life, city experience and safety for the community. Such measures would be very welcome.

I appreciate that this traffic calming study is being undertaken. These streets certainly are not perfect and are in need of some attention. As a resident along Woolwich St I feel that the minimum step is to immediately reduce the speed limit to 40km/h.

The recent upgrade of the street (wider lanes + more space w/ bike lanes) has made it easier to carry significant speed (70+ km/h) from university all the way down to the roundabout near Kiwanis Park. A reduction in speed limit along with enforcement presence in the evening (4:30 to 6pm) will help.

Pedestrian crossing locations (signed and road markings) from the neighbourhoods to the multi-use trail (Maverick, Wismer, Steeplechase) will be an aide to help improve pedestrian visibility and safety.

As we live in a condo complex at the corner of Woolwich and University, we find that vehicles of all kinds speed on Woolwich approaching the lights at University making it difficult for us to safely merge onto Woolwich from our driveway. They also speed around the corner from University onto Woolwich again making it difficult to merge onto Woolwich. Gotta have speed bumps on Woolwich.

Margaret Ave N between Bridgeport and Lincoln is uncomfortably busy. People go fast and are impatient around cyclists, pedestrians, and cars backing into or out of driveways. I wonder how many people are taking this as an alternative to Weber? Any traffic calming measures would be greatly appreciated -- even if its just the little middle-of-the-road speed signs.

As a frequent runner/pedestrian I am always in favour of slower vehicular traffic. The corner of Maverick & Woolwich is brutal as cars coming whipping around the bend into a straightaway. They cannot see pedestrians soon enough and I have almost been hit several times. The roundabout at Kiwanis Park is also one that people struggle to yield for pedestrians crossing. I appreciated the signs that went up in the summer but rarely had an impact on the speed (it's not hard to tell a car going 40km vs 60+km!). Next...is there anything you can do about the dog owners who don't keep their dogs on leads or pick up after their dogs down that trail?!? ;)

Same area as Margaret but at the corner of Mayfield and University there are no street lights. Essentially to get out of the neighbourhood there (turning left) I feel like I have to "send it" because traffic is so heavy on university. 4 way lights set up syncing with the lights 100m away on Glenridge would make this turn safer. It is the only neighbourhood exit without traffic lights.

I support the current traffic calming measures on Woolwich St - the centre of the road collapsible signage. Understanding the need to have them removed for the winter season, we would like to see some alternative calming measures suited for the winter. The increased number of housing and consequent vehicle traffic has lead to increased speeders. This is concerning when you factor the increased foot traffic - again as a result of increased housing in the area.

I live on Braemore Ave and the cars that turn onto this road from University often don’t slow down from the 60km/h speed limit to the new 40km/h posted on the neighborhood road. Often they screech around the first turn at high speeds and gun it down the straight away on Braemore Ave before stopping at Sandowne. Dunvegan is an issue but Sandowne, regardless of the school zone, will also need studying since both of these roads allow people to cut-through from University to Lexington.

This neighbourhood is in flux, and in the last 6 years since I’ve moved here, there have been many homes bought and sold and a massive influx of young Children. These roads need to be safe.

I’ve seen bicyclists, pedestrians, and a dog all hit during this time. Luckily none of them seriously injured. Drivers passing through are also aggressive. When I waved at someone to slow down in the 40km/h straightaway on Braemore, they flipped me off and laid on their horn as they continued down the full stretch of the road. I was walking with my young children in what should be a calm neighbourhood.

I live on Margaret Avenue, about a block north of Bridgeport Ave. I can say with confidence that I watch vehicles travelling north on Margaret Ave. speed up to make the green light at Bridgeport and fly passed my home travelling far passed the speed limit. There are no speed limit signs posted either as this turns into a residential neighborhood. Margaret Ave does have a hill and a bend towards Lincoln, which one would hope would cause people to slow down, however this isn't the case whatsoever. I've also seen drivers pass multiple vehicles at a time, on a hill, on the left and right side. People use this street as a throughway to the highways while there are families, young children, pedestrians, cyclists, etc. using this residential area as they should be. My suggestions would be a 4-way stop at Margaret and Murdoch and another at Margaret and Vermont, as well as speed limit signs. Traffic calming will effect surrounding roads, as people will attempt to avoid them, please expand the study to include these areas and apply traffic calming to all.

For Lincoln Road and Bridgeport Road East, please leave these streets as they are. I live in this area and have never had any issues driving, biking or walking.

The only issues I had was when the pylons were placed in the middle of Marshall St. I found this very dangerous.

Please Do Not put pylons on Bridge st. again. Most cyclists do not bike on busy streets like this. Instead cyclists, such as myself, taking less busy streets like Marshal, Regina, and Margret...if anything put bike lanes on less busy streets like this. Thank you

I can only Comment on Margaret Ave N. There are multiple places which as a pedestrian, driver and someone who pulls out of a driveway, where visibility is impaired. Approaching Lincoln at the top of the hill you can't see who is coming up and at the bend near Vermont (where I live) you can only see a few houses up the street. When I pull out of my driveway I rely on the reflections in the cable box to help me see oncoming traffic. Of people are driving the speed limit there is time to stop or slow down for people caught crossing the street or pulling out. If they're flying through (especially between 4 pm and 7pm) it gets scary. This is a residential street on the North end and I believe calming measures would help. They have helped near Breighthaupt Centre.

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The difficulty with applying "traffic calming" to collector roads is that they do a great disservice to people who live in the area and have no choice but to drive on them to get to the main roads and nearby businesses.

Too many people who move on to collector roads because the price of housing is lower there than on calmer side-streets. Such people then try to claim that collector road as being "theirs" a road that should not be used by other taxpayers that paid for that road.

An enforced speed limit with traffic cameras and fines mailed to offenders would go a long way to slow down the speeders without necessitating installation of pointless and ignored stop signs and poorly designed "stop" bumps that encourage fuel waste with the acceleration and braking let alone the bone-jarring ride on a bus.

Last summer, part of Marshall was designate "multi-use" with traffic cones and new stop signs. It became an obstacle course to get from neighboring streets to access Weber St. or Lincoln Ave. Late at night, drivers ignored all that including the stop signs just to speed along from Weber to Lincoln. Maybe allowing seasonal overnight street parking and no time limit parking on such streets would act as a natural street narrowing project at no cost to the city other than lost parking fines.

We were told years ago that many measures could not be used on Margaret / Lincoln such as traffic humps, wider boulevards, etc. because of the frequent use of these roads by emergency services. In five years, I can count the number of times I seen any emergency vehicle speed by my house on the fingers of one hand. For those of us who live here, it's our neighbourhood. For those accessing the highway via University or Erb, it's a thoroughfare and damn be to any kids, adults, pets, cyclists, joggers and even traffic following the speed limit. I have been passed on the left waiting to turn left into my own driveway. Even the snowplows fly along Margaret; the piles of snow in the middle of my lawn bypassing both the boulevard and sidewalk are testament to their speed. Good luck. I'm out of suggestions.

I am very much in favour of traffic calming on Margaret Avenue. (I don't use the other streets so can't comment.) If multi-modal features could be incorporated (bike lanes, bus stops, and sidewalks on both sides) as well as car slowing features. All the best with the planning.

I support these measures, Dunvegan/Sandowne/Braemore are consistently used as a cut-through by commuters and I was surprised Dunvegan wasn't included last year. Despite the measures taken, many drivers still drive through this area at excessive speeds, so while I agree this is a positive step, I don't think it's enough.

I regularly drive by Margaret Ave as well, and I'm surprised by how fast people drive over the top of the hill, despite there being a blind crest and a curve. Another commenter mentioned how these measures can divert traffic to other residential streets, so this should be considered as well and perhaps ensure incentives aren't created to cut through these streets.

Furthermore, actions recently taken by the Region to reduce lanes on major commuter streets had driven traffic onto side streets and created more of these such issues than ever in on our quiet residential streets.

I am only able to comment on the Margaret Ave portion of this project. I live on Murdock Ave between Margaret and Ellis, and hope that staff will consider the impact of traffic calming on the streets that run off of Margaret. My street already has a major problem with traffic cutting through from Lincoln to Margaret and speeding down my very straight street. It is like living on a major artery road much of the time, especially on weekend afternoons and the afternoon rush hour. If Margaret becomes less hospitable to drive on, the volume on the perpendicular streets and Ellis will get worse. Traffic studies should be done on Murdock, Neilson, Vermont and Washington as well to properly evaluate the impact. With schools closed and a current lockdown, it will be difficult to get an accurate picture of this before March. Margaret is already curved and hilly so it has some semblance on natural traffic calming while the side streets are dead straight and flat so are very tempting to speeders.

I live on Dunvegan Dr, cars are always speeding day and night, I can sometimes hear them at night speeding by. Often people don’t stop at the stop signs on the streets that cross with Dunvegan either, just roll through. This a school zone and lots of children in the area. Especially being a bus route (city bus and school bus), and cars can be parked along the sides during the day drivers need to be more cautious.

I travel frequently on Margaret Avenue to get to appointments and also on Woolwich. Based on my experience on William St in Waterloo, I find that traffic calming measures only divert traffic onto other residential streets or backs up traffic when four way stops are put in place on a major road. The study should consider the impact of traffic diversion. I find sometimes that council has a knee jerk reaction to a few residents who complain. It is analogous to poeple who move near an airport then complain about the noise. That being said, to increase the safety I am in favour of installing stop light cross walks to allow pedestrians to cross roads safely. In addition, I like the concept of installing speed bumps to stop speeding through neighbourhoods. Four way stops become nothing bump and roll through intersections or worse yet in my neighbourhood, they are completely ignored. Speed limits should be reduced to 40km/hr in dense residential areas. The area around Woolwich and the former Kiwanis Park lands have been developed significantly and the population density has increased and the road infrastructure was not upgraded. In the past this farm lands and forested. The visibility on this road is not great and needs improvement.