700 roads to get speed bumps, other traffic calming measures in Mississauga
Published September 18, 2023 at 12:40 pm
Some 700 roads in Mississauga have been tapped for speed bumps and other traffic calming measures, but at the rate of completing only seven such projects a year, one city councillor is wondering how and when it’ll all get done.
City of Mississauga Ward 7 Councillor Dipika Damerla noted at last week’s city council meeting that even with the Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras augmenting other advanced traffic calming measures, such as speed bumps, that will only help matters so much.
“What’s the plan?” the councillor asked of City staff, adding she hopes the answer will be contained in the next municipal budget. “Is there anything in the upcoming budget to focus on more speed bumps…and other measures?
“I just wanted to put that on the radar because I know in November we start budget deliberations and this is a big issue.”
Geoff Wright, Mississauga’s transportation and works commissioner, said the traffic calming projects are very much on the radar of his department and he promised more information to council in the near future.
“We are planning to bring back in the next few weeks an update on our Vision Zero Action Plan and touch base on how we’re doing with respect to the 99 action plans and the status of our implementation,” he said. “In addition to that, we are also looking for ways to accelerate our traffic calming program…”
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Ward 7 Councillor Dipika Damerla
“Longer term, road safety continues to be a priority,” Wright continued, and “we will be looking for ways to accelerate and accommodate additional requests through different tools like the ASE program.”
He noted that revenue from the ASE program, which has proven an effective deterrent to speeding drivers since its inception in 2021, will not only fund that program, but “also road safety initiatives, so that will be another opportunity that we will have in the future.”
Mississauga’s Vision Zero Action Plan is a strategy that contains 99 actions to help Mississauga reach its “Vision Zero” goal of no fatal or serious collisions on the city’s network of roads.
One major traffic calming initiative launched recently was a plan to clamp down on speeders on a busy north Mississauga road.
The Aquitaine Avenue Road Safety Pilot Project, which reduced the busy four-lane road in Meadowvale to three lanes, is among a number of road safety improvement initiatives taking place across the city.
The City of Mississauga traffic calming pilot is altering Aquitaine Ave. in several ways in an effort to make it safer for everyone, officials say.
“The pilot project will focus on changing the current four lanes to three lanes to help increase the comfort, accessibility and safety for all road users, including cyclists, pedestrians and drivers,” City officials said earlier in an online project description. “This traffic calming measure will help reduce speeding on the roadway by narrowing the road and help keep traffic at a slower speed. As part of the pilot, on-road protected bike lanes, dedicated vehicle parking lanes and a dedicated centre/left turn lane will be added on various sections of Aquitaine Ave.”
Geoff Wright, Mississauga’s transportation and works commissioner
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