'Efficient and flexible' traffic strategy gets green light from town councillors

Bradford is gearing up to hit the road with its new traffic mitigation strategy.

Following a presentation from Hugo Chan and Simon Hurlburt of Arcadis Professional Services, and based on a report from town transportation technologist Paul Dubniak, council’s new strategic initiatives committee — which includes all members of council — recommended council endorse the draft final traffic mitigation strategy (TMS), including its evaluation and methodology process, during the committee meeting Tuesday evening, Aug. 27.

In his report, Dubniak explains the TMS includes a complete review and revision of existing policies updated with the “newest and best practices in traffic calming, that are efficient and flexible when addressing traffic complaints.”

“This was a big project for the town transportation staff,” he said during the meeting, explaining that as traffic calming has become more common, “we needed a set of warrants and processes,” to keep up with all the requests in response to increasing complaints.

That includes a six-step process to screen which complaints should result in calming, score the severity of traffic issues that pass screening and a list of which solutions are best suited to be added to various different roads and circumstances in both the urban and rural parts of town.

The TMS even includes one-page guides for each of the recommended traffic-calming options, including written descriptions, diagrams, photos of real-life examples, explanations of where and how they can be used, the costs and the pros and cons.

On top of all that, there’s also a new development checklist to help ensure traffic calming is proactively incorporated into the design of new roads and developments to make sure they cater to all users, including those who choose to walk, bike or take transit.

“The last thing we want is car-centric neighbourhoods,” Chan said. “It’s not really a sustainable way to go forward.”

While the strategy received praise from councillors, other recommendations included in the report weren’t quite so popular.

A staff recommendation for a pedestrian crossing at Miller Park Avenue and Sutherland Avenue was replaced with a recommendation for an all-way stop in the same location at the request of Ward 1 Coun. Cheraldean Duhaney and Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper.

Since being elected, Duhaney said the intersection has been a top priority for her, and noted that several residents from the ward attended the meeting in-person.

“I am excited that the committee has approved the all-way stop,” she said via email. “This is a powerful reminder that community voice truly matters, and I am deeply grateful for the unwavering support.”

That all-way stop is expected to come in at about the same $20,000 cost as was estimated for the pedestrian crossing and planned to be funded from the roughly $40,000 remaining in the 2024 budget from the now-defunct community and traffic safety advisory committee.

While he wasn’t sure the stop sign would resolve the issue, deputy mayor and committee chair Raj Sandhu, understood Duhaney’s desire to deal with speeding in the area.

“The behaviour of some residents in this town is sickening,” he said. “If they’re speeding and they don’t care, they have no regard for life or their kids or anyone else’s kids in this municipality.”

Also approved from the same budget was $2,000 to install traffic-calming bollards along West Park Avenue between Miller Park Avenue and Memorial Court.

The committee also recommended council consider the following for the draft 2025 budget and beyond:

• providing $80,000 annually to the strategic initiatives committee for TMS projects, including rural and urban traffic counts
• providing $40,000 in 2025 to review Miller Park Avenue and Langford Boulevard for potential traffic calming, active transportation and complete streets improvements by a consultant
• hiring a traffic specialist for implementing the TMS within the next five years

Recommendations from the strategic initiatives committee are considered for approval at the next regular council meeting.