Ward 5 residents waiting for traffic calming on Drouillard Road
A traffic study has been completed on a stretch of Drouillard Road
Cars travel very fast down Drouillard Road in the stretch between Wyandotte and Seminole streets, according to residents who live in Ward 5.
What they want is for traffic to calm down.
"We have a problem corner, and we've been trying for probably about five years just to get a crosswalk there," said Gillian Gonzales.
She was talking about the intersection at Drouillard Road and Richmond Street, where a daycare centre is located as well as the Gino A. Marcus Park.
"It's a high traffic area. There's a lot of kids back and forth," she said.
Something in the works
The good news is the city is moving on initiating a potential traffic calming project in Ward 5.
Executive director of operations with the city, Dwayne Dawson, said the city has completed a traffic study of Drouillard Road from Wyandotte to Seminole streets and will be setting up a neighbourhood meeting soon.
"It's passed all the initial steps, so they're preparing information to present to the neighbourhood," said Dawson.
Possible solutions will be presented to the residents during that meeting, including narrowing the road by using bump-outs or with paint on the street and installing speed cushions.
However, to actually begin to develop the project, more than 60 per cent of residents in that area need to sign a petition first.
For more information on the city's traffic calming policy and how projects are moved forward, you can visit the City of Windsor's website.
Safety and economic development
Three Ward 5 candidates said safety is a definite concern in the neighbourhood. One candidate, Adam Castle, said slowing down traffic will also be better for economic development.
"Because when they linger, they get the chance to actually see what's going on, and maybe get enticed to stop and stay there for a bit," he said.
For Lillian Kruzsely, she's supportive of putting crosswalks in because she said there are many families that have children with autism living in the ward.
"This is a big concern that if people are speeding down the street, a child with autism needs more time to cross the street than another child," she said.
Joey Wright pointed out residents have told him there are more cars speeding down residential roads lately.
CBC News reached out to all candidates, including Ward 5's incumbent councillor, for comment. Not all of them were able to respond by the time this article was published.
Our news team will visit Ward 10 Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fred's Farm Fresh Produce. You can talk with CBC Windsor host Arms Bumanlag to share your concerns heading toward the October municipal election.