Calling Bradford West Gwillimbury’s road design “appalling,” and with the Highway 400-404 Connecting Link years away, one resident is calling on council to do something now about speeding and aggressive driving in town.
And in response, members of BWG council called traffic flow one of the biggest issues of the next council term.
“Major arterial roadways are under-designed and under-developed. People are getting fed up,” resident Michael Walsh said at a council meeting Tuesday evening.
“When people get up in the morning, they don’t say to themselves, ‘Today I’m going to run a red light. I’m going to race down a residential street, and I’m going to blow through a stop sign.’”
But after driving for a while in slow-moving traffic, or sitting at a light waiting to turn, patience wears thin, he said.
The Town of BWG installed bollards in a few areas this summer as a traffic-calming measure, and it is considering the use of red-light cameras at intersections.
“Before we consider resorting to these heavy-handed, Orwellian practices, we must ask ourselves, ‘What is the root cause of aggressive driving and what are we doing to address it?’” said Walsh.
“What we can do today to make (roads) more efficient? The lack of design is appalling. A lack of turning lanes, a lack of co-ordinated turning signals. In this day and age, when we build a road of this magnitude (Holland Street west of Professor Day Drive), that should be a given.”
Walsh said traffic on Marshview Boulevard is often backed up in the mornings, and he would like to see designated right-hand turn lanes in some places along Holland Street.
He also suggested several places where the town could potentially find money for its roads, including increasing development charges or taxes, or diverting money from other projects.
“We need to figure out a way to get out of this corner we’ve painted ourselves into,” he said.
Several members of BWG council agreed with Walsh that traffic is a problem in town, with Mayor Rob Keffer calling it a “hot-button issue.”
“The flow of traffic is one of the biggest concerns for the next term of council,” said Coun. Gary Baynes.
Coun. Mark Contois suggested some of the secondary arterial roads around town are not yet complete, so most people have to take main roads such as Holland Street to get through town, causing more traffic.
As well, the Highway 400-404 Connecting Link is about five to seven years away from being built, said Deputy Mayor James Leduc.
“That would help alleviate a lot of issues,” he said.
Coun. Raj Sandhu said he agreed with Walsh about his traffic congestion concerns but said he does not believe any Town of BWG staff would deliberately design roads to negatively affect residents.
While design is part of the solution, several councillors said drivers must also alter their behaviour to be safer on the roads.
Coun. Gary Lamb, a school bus driver, said good drivers develop from a young age.
“When I was a kid we had Elmer the safety elephant — stop, look and listen,” he said. “If parents impose upon their children safety, then maybe when those kids get their licences they’ll drive safely.”
