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MIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
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Winnipeg city council\u2019s public works committee has directed staff to study whether to expand its 30 km\/h school zone speed limit to additional residential streets, or even busy regional roads.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOur regional roads are our major corridors \u2026 and we need to make sure those are flowing. At the same time, we need to make sure our streets are safe,\u201d said Gillingham.<\/p>\n
A reduced speed limit of 30 km\/h, typically down from 50 km\/h for residential roads, currently applies around many schools from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, from September through June. That typically applies to any city street that borders a private or public school with students in Grade 6 or lower, except for regional\/ arterial streets.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Staff will also study options to post the 30 km\/h speed limit at more residential roads surrounding schools, such as streets that connect with key paths entering school property, not just those directly adjacent to the building.<\/p>\n Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, fears both changes could have unintended consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t support having a school zone in the middle of a regional road. Regional roads are major arteries that we\u2019ve designated to move vehicles \u2026 Our regional roads are (also) dedicated for emergency vehicles,\u201d said Lukes (Waverley West).<\/p>\n The councillor said schools on regional streets are required to have crossing guards, which helps reduce safety risks.<\/p>\n She said the motion\u2019s call to reduce more 50 km\/h roads around schools to 30 km\/h speeds could confuse drivers.<\/p>\n \u201cRegional roads are major arteries that we\u2019ve designated to move vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt would get challenging when you\u2019ve got all these multiple speeds throughout the city. That\u2019s why I\u2019m really supportive of just dropping (the speed limit on all residential) roads to 40 km\/h,\u201d said Lukes.<\/p>\n Coun. Emma Durand-Wood said she would support both expansions to school zone speed limits.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t SUPPLIED<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Coun. Emma Durand-Wood.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re thinking about the school zones as a tool for safety, then we need to think about all the streets surrounding the schools. We\u2019ve got pretty good research to show reducing speed limits doesn\u2019t have a really tangible effect on travel times\u2026. I think most people are OK with slowing down a little bit for the safety of kids,\u201d said Durand-Wood (Elmwood-East Kildonan).<\/p>\n \u201cAs for emergency vehicles, I think when people are driving a little bit more slowly and more carefully, they\u2019re more attentive to their surroundings and it lets them be able to react more quickly, if they see (an emergency vehicle) coming up behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n A group lobbying to reduce the speed limit on all residential streets to 30 km\/h said slowing traffic on regional routes could be difficult to enforce.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we should investigate it. At the very least, speeds should drop to 50 km\/h on regional streets in front of elementary schools. I think that\u2019s totally reasonable. Ideally, it would be 40 (km\/h) but I kind of feel like we need to take baby steps on regional streets,\u201d said Ian Walker, the chairman of Safe Speeds Winnipeg.<\/p>\n \u201cI think most people are OK with slowing down a little bit for the safety of kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Walker, who is also a Louis Riel School Division trustee, said he has heard multiple complaints about the speed drivers travel past Archwood School, which is located on Archibald Street, a 60 km\/h arterial road.<\/p>\n He said reduced-speed school zones should be expanded to more residential streets as soon as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should absolutely be slowing cars down on adjacent streets (to schools) that we know kids are walking on, that kids are crossing\u2026. We have lots of disconnections in our network of safe routes to school,\u201d said Walker.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Ian Walker, chairman of Safe Speeds Winnipeg.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Coun. Devi Sharma, who raised the motion, said her key focus is to address residential roads directly around schools, following safety concerns from parents around R.F. Morrison, an elementary school in Garden City that has a 30 km\/h speed limit in place on Morrison Street.<\/p>\n Residents have asked the city to expand the speed zone, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an adjacent street, Buttercup (Avenue), where there\u2019s a pathway and it leads into the school green space, and a lot of students are using that route, and there is no 30 km\/h there,\u201d said Sharma (Old Kildonan).<\/p>\n She emphasized that reducing speed limits on arterial roads was not her original intention, noting that option was added after conversations with city traffic experts.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Sharma said she\u2019s not sure if a reduced speed would make sense for arterial roads.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d have to give that more thought\u2026 I think it\u2019s important to keep traffic moving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Dale Fuga, whose grandchildren attend R.F. Morrison, supports the call to reduce speeds around the facility.<\/p>\n \u201cI think (the speed limit) should be just consistent anywhere around the school,\u201d said Fuga. \u201cIf everybody took a little bit more care and caution, it would be a little bit safer.\u201d<\/p>\n David Patman, the city\u2019s manager of transportation planning, was not available for an interview Thursday.<\/p>\n joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n X: @joyanne_pursaga<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Joyanne Pursaga Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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