25 Sudbury streets under review for traffic calming measures this year

Morning North6:21Traffic calming Sudbury streets

Traffic calming was a topic of discussion at Greater Sudbury city council. City councillors looked at the methods used in the past and how effective they were. We have audio from that discussion.

Sudbury roads staff are again looking to slow down drivers on certain residential streets in the city.

For the past several years, the city has installed traffic calming measures, like speed bumps and islands, on popular shortcuts like Southview Drive and Atlee Avenue.

People who live along those streets have to agree to the changes first.

At a city council meeting Monday night, Coun. Deb McIntosh said she isn't sure that's a good idea.

"I think that sometimes people think that they own the road that's in front of their house," she said.

"And we all own all the roads and we all use them."

City staff have a list of 25 Sudbury streets they will consider for traffic calming.

The two roads at the top are Auger Avenue and Riverside Drive.

'Overcontrolling' on Southview Drive?

Sudbury city staff say their speed bump experiment last summer saw mixed results. Large flat speed bumps were installed on Southview Drive to try to slow down drivers on the popular shortcut.

Infrastructure general manager Tony Cecutti said average speeds did drop dramatically — but he noted the bumps were so sharp that cars slowed down too much and created more congestion.

"I certainly wouldn't suggest that the Southview experiment was entirely successful, because we were overcontrolling," he said.

"Some motorists were honking their horns, mad that they had to slow down so much."

Of the nine Sudbury streets where the city has put in traffic calming over the last six years, almost all saw a drop in average speed and volume of cars.