Traffic Calming Options For Residential Streets

(Original Date Posted: June 2018)

We receive many calls on how to slow speeding vehicles down on residential streets. This blog will provide you with an insight to the issue and options.

City Streets

The City’s street system is set up as follows:

Residential streets (Priority 3) feed traffic onto Collector Streets. Ie: You leave your home on Abbeydale Crescent (P3) and enter onto Bridgland Dr. North (P2)

Collector streets (Priority 2) feed traffic onto Regional Streets. Ie: You travel on Bridgland Drive North (P2) and enter onto Waverley Street (P1) Transit buses also ‘collect’ people on P2’s

Regional Streets (Priority 1) gather traffic from many Collector streets and connect to other Regional Streets. Ie: Waverley connects to other P1’s Bison Drive, Bishop Grandin Blvd, Kenaston Blvd. etc.

Traffic Calming on Residential Streets

These are options that residents can consider:

1. INSTALL ‘PLEASE SLOW DOWN’ SIGNS:  Contact my office for a Please Slow Down Sign (note these signs must be installed on private property only. Not on City boulevards please) Some of the local toy stores also sell plastic signs that say ‘Children Playing, Please Slow Down’

2. CONSIDER ‘SPEED HUMP INSTALLATION’: The City has a SPEED HUMP program that enables residents to discuss and have speed HUMPS installed, but all THREE CRITERIA must be met before humps are installed. Before residents start this program, I advise calling my office to discuss if your residential street meets the criteria.

3. EDUCATE RESIDENTS: OFTEN the people who are speeding at the very residents who live on the street! Manitoba Public Insurance has a spectacular Putting the Brakes on Speeding brochure that can be ordered and you can deliver to mailboxes of residents. CONTACT Manitoba Public Insurance. I think one of the most effective methods of traffic calming on a residential street is to craft a letter to the neighbours, and deliver to each house. Look for information in the MPI speeding brochure to guide you in writing the letter content. Ideally, have a few residents on the street sign the letter.

4. REQUEST TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT: Contact 311 by phone, or email 311@winnipeg.ca and request Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) enforcement. Please note that the WPS prioritize traffic enforcement to Priority 1 streets but if there are repeated requests for enforcement, they will enforce when time allows.

5. SPEED TABLES: Speed tables are a raised slab of asphalt that cover the road curb to curb. They are not as high as a speed hump, (allowing emergency vehicles to travel on) and are painted and signed. Speed tables physically change the street conditions, are not as invasive as speed humps – yet maintain a constant flow of traffic and encourage vehicles to slow down. In my first term I worked with the Public Works department to conduct a pilot and study the effectiveness of speed tables. The Public Works department would study each street, and then they install speed tables on:

• Dalhousie (by Ryerson School)
• Kilkenny Dr
• Silverstone Dr
• Aldgate Dr
• Bridgeland Dr North
• Lee Blvd (they installed late fall and they didn’t adhere properly so they are re-installing this summer)

Please note:  Speed tables are currently only installed on Collector Streets.

PLEASE NOTE Councillors throughout the City continually receive calls requesting assistance in calming traffic on residential streets. In many cities throughout the world, the speed limit is changed to calm traffic. Winnipeg is not there yet, but, in January of 2019, the Public Works depart was instructed to review and update current practices related to community traffic management and traffic calming and report back in six months. (June 2019)  See details of motion: http://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/DMIS/permalink.asp?id=A20190108(RM)PW-23