The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury is “opening up a can of worms” by approving permanent speed signs in Newton Robinson and Bond Head, said Deputy Mayor James Leduc.
During a council meeting Tuesday evening, Leduc said a list of eight “wishy-washy” recommendations made by the town’s Traffic Committee should have gone into a transportation master plan and be subject to budgetary approval.
Of the recommendations, only one of them — council consider including $50,000 in the 2019 budget for the purchase of electronic speed signs, some of which could be permanently placed — referenced the town’s budget.
“You’re opening up a can of worms with this. People are going to say, ‘I want (a speed sign) on my street,” Leduc said. “Wait for the budget like everyone else. I can’t support half of these recommendations because they’re all over the place.”
Despite airing his concerns, council voted to approve all the recommendations, with several councillors saying the next council can nix some of them at budget time.
Some of the recommendations include:
- Install permanent speed signs at the entrances to Newton Robinson on Highway 27 and in Bond Head on Highway 27 and County Road 88
- Move the 50km/h speed limit sign 150 metres west of 2853 Line 5 (just west of Canal Road)
- Town staff investigate possibility for three separate traffic lanes — left turn, straight through, and right turn — on the north side of Simcoe Road in the southbound lanes
- Examine gating Crossland Boulevard east of Vipond Way (to discourage speeding and drag racing)
- Have town staff write report on potentially reducing the speed limit from 80 km/h to 60 km/h on Line 9 from Henderson Park west to Sideroad 5
- Do pedestrian counts in the area of Simcoe Road and Gibson Circle to see if a crossing guard is needed there
Coun. Gary Baynes, a member of the Traffic Committee, said a few of the items — especially doing speed counts on Line 5, moving a stop sign on that road, and the $50,000 for electronic speed signs — were “too urgent” to wait to include in a transportation master plan.
Coun. Gary Lamb, chair of the Traffic Committee, said the committee passed the list of recommendations in an attempt to “pin down” the new council on these issues.
He called the need for permanent speed signs in Newton Robinson and Bond Head “extraordinary circumstances” because some drivers come off Highway 400 and speed through those communities.
“We have to remind them there is a speed limit there,” Lamb said.
BWG council does not meet again until Dec. 18, which is after the new council is sworn in following the municipal election.
