Bradford staff and councillors are gearing up for the rubber to hit the road with the town’s new traffic mitigation strategy (TMS).
Based on a report from town transportation technologist Paul Dubniak, the municipality's new strategic initiatives committee — which includes all members of council — has recommended council endorse the six-step process for staff to review requests for traffic calming, during the committee meeting on Oct. 22.
“I’m quite thrilled that we have this document,” Mayor James Leduc said, adding it provides council with “some great tools in our toolbox,” and shows council takes traffic safety seriously.
The steps include:
- Receive the requests through a dedicated email address — [email protected]
- Acknowledge receipt and notify the relevant ward councillor
- Review the request using specific screening criteria contained in the TMS
- Notify the councillor of the results and any next steps
- Notify the resident of the results
- Residents can appeal the decision through a deputation to the committee, and the committee can choose whether to direct staff to revisit the request or consider other options
If staff determine the need for traffic calming is urgent, they will bring the results and recommended solution to the committee for consideration and budget allocation, according to Dubniak’s report.
Otherwise, necessary but non-urgent requests are planned to be prioritized based on criteria in the TMS — including speed, traffic volume, truck volume, collision history and presence of vulnerable road users — and presented to council during the next year’s budget process.
That is set to include recommendations next month for the 2025 budget.
“I’m looking forward to your report in November,” Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie said. “We need to address the safety of our residents.”
Even after traffic calming is installed, Dubniak explained it will be reviewed for about one year to determine its effectiveness and if any further changes are needed.
While happy to “finally” see the TMS being implemented after “a long time coming,” Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine was also concerned about the appeal process.
He emphasized that one of the main objectives of the strategy was to have decisions about traffic calming made based on data, not emotional appeals.
“We could potentially have a lineup of every resident who doesn’t like the answer,” he said, and suggested removing the appeal option.
However, Deputy Mayor and committee chair Raj Sandhu stressed the importance of keeping it.
“I do have a concern with not affording an appeal process to anyone in any democratic country,” he said. “We owe it to our residents.”
As a result, the committee recommended keeping the appeal option but asked Dubniak to provide more details and guidance on when an appeal should be permitted.
As part of the process, staff are also expected update the committee on the requests and progress three times each year in February, June and September.
In the meantime, Dubniak explained staff are already working to add a page to the town’s website with an FAQ about the TMS process and thresholds, maps, traffic counts and priority roads.
This latest step in implementing the TMS follows the committee’s recommendation for council to endorse the draft final version, including its evaluation and methodology process, during the committee meeting on Aug. 27.
Work on the strategy began in July last year under the now-defunct community and traffic safety advisory committee with the help of Arcadis Professional Services, who were awarded the contract with the town for about $156,000.
Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano said the list of streets with excessive speeding is similar to the areas for which the previous committee advocated and it gives him “a lot of comfort” to know “we were on the right track.”
The strategy is based on a combination of best practices and feedback from residents, including those who attended the public meetings on Sept. 27, 2023, Dec. 13, 2023 and March 6, 2024.
Recommendations from the strategic initiatives committee are considered for approval at the next regular council meeting.
